Chibi Sakura
by Shinrin-kun
Summary: Sakura was on a mission with Naruto. Said male is taken hostage and Sakura turned by unknown means into a child. What's worse? Oh yeah, her 'babysitter' is none other than Sasuke.
1. Ichi

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Summary:** Sasuke had begun to think about his past, the life & people he'd left behind in Konoha. What he didn't think about was his future & how his busy life would become exceedingly difficult. A kid Sakura would become his biggest challenge."

* * *

（日本古 謡）

さくら さくら  
野山も里も 見わたす限り  
かすみか雲か 朝日ににおう  
さくら さくら 花ざかり

さ くら さくら  
やよいの空は 見わたす限り  
かすみか雲か 匂いぞ出ずる  
いざや いざや 見にゆかん

**. : : : : .**

**Sakura **

Sakura, sakura, mountains and villages,  
Stretching everywhere within sight.  
Is it mist or clouds? You shine with the rising sun.  
Sakura, sakura  
The flowers are blooming.

Sakura, sakura in the spring sky  
Stretching everywhere within sight.  
Is it mist or clouds? The fragrance and colors.  
Let's go let's go  
Watching, we will enjoy

**Song By: Robert J. Gould**

* * *

**ICHI**

**(One)**

* * *

Time was not an inconvenience to him anymore. If something were to happen it happened, if it didn't well he would wait for other circumstances. He was rather relaxed now; laying silently on the dewy grass near the waterfall, his muscled arms tucked under his head in a lazy way. The man seemed tranquil, undisturbed in the outside though in the inside there was a myriad of thoughts and malicious plans all concerning his older brother.

A sinister smirk made its way to his lips, showing a row of pearly white teeth. Inside his mind he thought of a merciless way to execute his brother.

Scratch that, they were many painful and heartless executions.

The plans in his mind played more like a movie of a mad man chasing after a defenseless person who ran for dear life. Him as the predator with his dear katana making several punctures to the helpless Itachi.

The images seemed spectacular to him, it was sort of ridiculous in a way. And he knew.

Like that would ever happen.

Miraculously he happened to find Itachi and he were to cower and run off in fear.

If it were only that easy.

He snorted at such ridiculous ideas he's gotten lately. More like childish thoughts, simulating from when he used to be just eight.

Onyx eyes closed to the world again, mostly trying to find himself at peace in the little time he had. His journey in search of his brother had still led him nowhere. His new team was doing all they could but it appeared futile every time they reached their destination of where his older brother could be.

If Sasuke was smart, Itachi was smarter.

Karin's ability was helpful to an extent, but when it came to faint chakras and Sasuke's nearness. She lost her concentration most of the time. This was stressful to him, moreover to the rest of the team. So to get a good time to himself he decided to leave their team for a short period, telling them he was just going to go to the nearest bar to relax. To this of course Karin signed up saying , _to keep him company_. But that was the last thing Sasuke wanted.

He snorted at the memory of her clinging onto his arm, trying to convince him to let her go with him. He as polite as he could be (which was actually never) pulled his arm free, ignoring her completely and walked out the door.

That woman never learned, and such behavior always reminded him of his time in Konoha and of certain girls who would of died to do the same. Such actions also reminded him of his ex-teammate, whom in occasions made her way into his significant mind. Her thoughtful caring deeds towards him and her effective way to always placate Naruto. Yes, she was somehow unique and still he wondered if she was the same.

He let out a contented sigh as the water lulled him, trying to convince him to go to sleep. This was the only time he could relax without going crazy over the smallest hint of Itachi. If times like this didn't exist, every time he detected the smallest clue of his brother's whereabouts, he would of gone "Itachi! Itachi!" but such clues were always in vane, leading him nowhere in particular but empty cabins and abandoned hotel buildings.

Sasuke froze in his movements when he tried to shuffle into a more comfortable position, the ruffling of leaves behind him making him aware of the presence of someone. He waited for some animal to pop out from the bushes, but it seemed the poor _animal_ was stuck. The man couldn't care less if the animal spent his last days trapped there.

Not his problem.

He closed his eyes again.

But much to his pretend game of not hearing a thing, he could not ignore the small cry of what appeared to be of a child coming from the same spot he thought an animal was trapped in.

Sasuke quickly sat up from his spot and stared at the blueberry covered bush.

First a hand popped out. The small fingers curled up into fists that expressed how much strength the child used to attempt to free itself.

Then a foot. Bare foot in fact, who looked extremely small to be someone who could threaten his life.

Then a head. He could only see the top of the child's head. Short pink hair disheveled with blueberries smeared all over her pretty hair.

Then, she looked at him.

Her giant emerald eyes filled with tears she couldn't get to stop from rolling down her rosy cheeks. She gave a hard pull on her red dress (in which after further inspection he realized was just a shirt) and fell on her stomach just in front of him.

Sasuke arched a brow at the whole situation. She reminded him a lot of his old teammate. Clumsy, cry-baby, gullible, the list goes on...

The girl looked up at him.

Bottom lip trembling.

Eyes once more pooled with fresh tears.

He knew what was next and Sasuke could only flinch before the hit.

Oh no, here come the waterworks.

"Waaahh!" she cried loudly. The fat tears running down her cheeks freely now.

This was such an inconvenience and he didn't know what to do, never really being the type to comfort someone. But he tried his best none the less, being completely softened by her pitiful cries.

"Hey no crying, you're not OK so get up" he ordered.

Yeah, that was as far as fatherly as he could go. The girl though, only looked at him in surprise with those giant emerald eyes staring in awe at what he had just told her.

She didn't get it, what did he mean she was OK? She was lost, hurt and afraid. How was that OK?

With only one thing in her mind at the moment, wanting to find her mommy soon. But with her not knowing where she was she could only keep crying.

He groaned loudly, partially becoming inpatient.

"Enough"

Her lip trembled.

"Don't..."

She pouted

"I'm warning you…"

She began to harshly breath through her nose, her eyes becoming filled with tears again.

"Don't you-…"

"Wahh!" she wailed, her small fists rubbing her eyes slowly.

She looked around four years old, so he guessed she could talk. Sasuke at this moment was frustrated but for some reason could not find the courage to shut her up.

After what seemed like an eternity, he came up with an idea. She was a little kid and like any little kid you had to treat her the same.

And what do little kids like?

"If you be quiet, I promise I'll buy you some candy"

The crying stopped. Curious apple green eyes staring at him incredulously.

"You…have candy?" she asked him in a very small voice. With a small hand she tried to brush the tears that soaked her cheeks as she slowly approached the man. He gave a stiff nod. Inwardly he was glad she stopped crying, but now he had just received some unwanted task. Taking care of this child who looked awfully similar to Sakura.

Just a few minutes ago he was attempting to have the most peaceful nap he would get in centuries just before his haunting over his brother. But now, he was talking to this little _Sakura-look-alike_ girl who just happened to appear out of no where.

What was a girl of her age doing all alone in a forest away from the nearest village (that happened to be miles away from their location). Not just that, the village itself was not one to play around in and he knew. Crooks always fiddled around the Mist village, this was no safe place. He looked at her oddly, but nodded none the less to her question.

"I don't think you have candy" she pouted again, the corner of her eyes filled with sparkly rivulets of her salty tears.

She was smarter than what he thought.

"Where are your parents?" he asked her. In return she began to sniffle again, constantly looking around her. Her mud stained cheeks swelled from the quick intake of breath. He guessed she was trying to hold back the cries but it was futile she began to wail again.

Growing frustrated by this, and the crying leading him nowhere (even though he didn't know why he even bothered to help her)

He could of just left her there to find her way herself for all he cared. But he found himself somehow forced to help her. A menacing growl left his throat, gaining the attention of the little girl who stopped in her cries just to look at the angry man.

Inside her head, a little voice told her to stop angering the _nice Mr_. _stranger_ who promised her candy.

"Don't cry again, or I will not give you candy anymore"

He gave a nod when she became silent "now where are they? Why are you here in the woods all alone?"

"I…" her lip trembled as she tried to speak, but with a wary look from him she held back the tears.

"Brave girls don't cry, so hold it"

"But…"

"No buts, do you like to be called a wimp?"

She shook her head aggressively, her short pink hair sticking to her muddy face all the more. The girl found it weird to be taught by a mysterious man on how she should behave, but strangely enough she found herself drawn to this strange person.

"I don't know where my mommy is" she replied shakily.

Tiredly he took a seat just in front of her, his elbows resting on his knees as he leaned closer to the girl who stood still on her spot waiting for more questions. She was short and dirty, only wearing that red shirt he at first mistook for a dress. For a moment he thought he went crazy and thought he was actually seeing his old teammate, but that thought later vanished from his mind when he realized that was rather impossible.

"Then what are you doing here in the forest all alone? You do know bad people like to come around here" Sasuke coldly interrogated.

"I woke up over there" she pointed behind her, emphasizing from where "there is lots of blood all over" the girl sniffled again, the tears threatening to fall, but with a look from him she stopped herself before she could start to cry. "there was no one around except the dead men lying on the floor. I ran off 'cause I was scared"

"Can you take me there?"

She nodded reluctantly. He swiftly scooped her up, not really minding her messy appearance and walked the way she told him.

Maybe her parents were there and he could still find them alive, enough to help them into a hospital(even though he just didn't know why he even bothered) Sasuke wanted to feel optimistic when he reached the clearing and the only thing he could see were a few dead men scattered all over. The center of the place was disturbed, giant boulders bulging out from the ground and some of the trees nearby had been brutally taken down.

"I was over there" the little girl pointed to the center of the place, from where he could see the crater had been originated. He cocked an eye brow and hesitantly walked over to the spot.

Sasuke remembered the remains of the clothes that laid now shredded inside of the crater…

A few years ago he had seen an specific girl wear those, he was sure of that. Sasuke had memorized her outfit then. He looked down at the girl next to him, almost as if afraid he looked behind her _red dress_. There it was in fact.

The white ring that was his ex-teammates family emblem.

Onyx eyes narrowed into slits, not really wanting to think the worse he asked.

"What is your name?"

The little girl looked up in surprise to his question, then with a small smile she answered "Haruno Sakura"

* * *

**To be Continued…**

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**A/N: **I've been itching to write a story like this. And finally got the guts to do so *squeals*

Thank you for reading!

_-Shinrin-chan_


	2. Ni

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**NI**

**(Two)**

**

* * *

**Sasuke was sure he was loosing it when instead of leaving her there in the open field, he took her along to meet his team.

She was a kid, so he wasn't worried about her jeopardizing anything. Besides she was defenseless like always or even more now.

Just before taking off back to the camp site, they stopped to clean her a little by the waterfall. She whined of course, the scrubbing hurt her but the dirt in her soft cheeks was pretty dried, plus some of the cuts along her jaw were getting infected. Sasuke couldn't blame her, probably the contact with water to her skin stung pretty bad.

Her pink hair was clean now, and he could see that clean was much more lighter.

Back then when they were twelve, her hair was a darker shade of pink. Now that she's a small child her hair was lighter like cotton candy. Her cheeks seemed flushed all the time now, the tip of her nose a light shade of pink as well as her ears. She appeared so fragile to him.

"Oww!" she complained when the Uchiha accidentally poked her eye.

"Sorry" he muttered in apology.

Her _dress_ would have to do for now until they reached a nearby town. Sasuke would have to buy her new clothes obviously, she couldn't stay in that shirt for long. And as long as she stays with him, Sakura would have to dress more properly.

Sasuke couldn't return her home, Konoha was off limits and he certainly couldn't send her back alone.

It was like telling a blind man directions.

"Stay still" he ordered when she refused to stop moving. She was easily distracted by the miniature fishes swimming around under the water. A few giggles now and then when one swam past her.

He had to remember she was just a four year old girl now.

"_Onii-san_ that hurt!" she whined and Sasuke froze. Not because he hurt her, but because of what she called him.

"Don't call me that"

"_Onee-san_?"

_*Twitch* Kami, forbid..._

"Not that either"

She pouted cutely. To that, Sasuke looked down at the water, finding it more interesting at the moment.

That small action could make him change his mind about many things if she did that pout at the right time.

"What can I call you then, Mr. Stranger"

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at the way she called him. She looked so innocent as she asked this, her curious eyes staring at the man in anticipation, waiting for his answer.

"_Imouto_"

"But... you are older than me" she pointed out, her emerald eyes staring at him incredulously. "plus, aren't you a guy?"

"I was referring to you"

Sasuke gave her a tiny glare before picking her up from the water. He pulled off his white hakama, wrapping it securely around her tiny figure.

"I'm your little sister?"

"Well, if you're going to call me your onii-san then, why not?"

A huge smile found its way to her face. The sparkle in her eyes numbed the Uchiha that instant.

She was such a mesmerizing child and there was no way to deny it.

He also had to admit that he talked to her more now than he ever did back in Konoha. It appears ignoring her now was impossible, and being more interested about her was more plausible at the moment.

Sasuke watched as she ran a bit farther with his hakama tightly wrapped around her, she was laughing like the small child she was, giddy to the surroundings of the foggy evening. It wasn't long before she ran into a tree and stumbled back, whining a bit but certainly not crying. he was sure surprised enough to hear her laugh at this.

"Onii-san!" she ran back towards him, still smiling like there was no tomorrow "what is your name, onii-san?"

He was reluctant for a while about telling the young girl his name.

"Sasuke"

Her smile widened at the mention of the name, her eyes seemed to sparkle even more.

"I like that name" she beamed "reminds me of someone back home and looking at you closely…"

She hesitated for moment, her rosy cheeks turning into a darker shade of red.

"You do look like a boy I know back home" she said happily.

"Hn"

"Oh yes, he says that a lot too"

Sakura giggled at this. She had found a grown up who looked just like her first crush.

"And his name is also Sasuke" she squealed in satisfaction "can I call you Sasuke-kun?"

He couldn't help but smirk at the whole situation "so much for calling you my Imouto"

"I'll still call you onii-san" she jumped, probably sensing some kind of fake disappointment in the man's voice. "but it would be nice to call you Sasuke-kun too"

Apparently, he could never escape that suffix even if he wanted.

"Sure, kid"

* * *

By the time the pair got back to the camping site, Karin was really huffy. Suigetsu, who actually got a kick from bugging her to no end, kept teasing her about what Sasuke could be doing. If it wasn't about haunting her with images of what Sasuke could actually be doing to some other girl instead of her, it was the constant joking of how _ugly_ she was. The girl of course, aside being angry, blushed in pure embarrassment at everything he had said. In her naïve little mind, the Uchiha would never do such a thing. Her beloved Sasuke-kun would never cheat on her with some random girl out there.

So when Sasuke actually made an appearance with Sakura in his arms, Suigetsu and Karin stared at him wide eyed. The white head was the first to speak, clearly out of shock by then.

"Lolicon?" he teased "the Orochimaru thing sure is contagious"

The Uchiha sent him a glare that clearly ordered him to shut up, in which he did with an apologetic look. The sleeping girl in his arms moved uncomfortably, trying to find a good position in his arms.

"What is that?" the red head crinkled her nose, glowering down at the pink haired girl.

"If you were smart, you would know it was a child" Suigetsu replied smartly.

She huffed, adjusting her glasses as she kept starting down at the girl "I know that, what I meant to say is what is she doing here?"

"She was lost"

"Since when do you take in lost children?" she questioned him.

To his teammates this was strange. Juugo, who was quietly watching from his seat, was skeptical as to why Sasuke had brought a long a toddler.

"She cried"

Again a lame excuse.

"So?" Karin pressed on.

"She was lost and was crying"

"Again, so?"

"Well, why the hell do I have to explain myself to you anyways?"

In fact, why did he?

Karin looked hurt for a second at his sudden outburst, but suddenly recovered as the girl in his arms stirred until she opened her emerald eyes to see the small crowd around her. Sakura instinctively hugged onto Sasuke's chest, trying her very best to hide her face. Karin felt a pang of jealousy, seeing how the girl clung to him like it was nothing. It was a big something for that matter to Karin, who at that moment wished to be in that girl's place.

"Onii-san?" the little girl mumbled. Understanding what she was asking Sasuke gently pat her head.

"It's fine, these are my... _friends_"

Sakura peeked from her hiding spot, looking at Karin warily. The red head was still glaring and seeing the little girl look at her that way made her somewhat indignant.

"What?" Karin barked at her after a minute or so.

"Ahh! Scary!"

Suigetsu's eyes were near bulging out, he tried to hold back the laughter, but such thing was futile. Sasuke actually smirked at this, along with Juugo who caved in and smiled at such innocence from the young girl.

"Oh the girl is smart" Suigetsu couldn't help to comment.

"You little brat!" Karin tried to move closer and actually get her hand on the girl, but to her surprise Sasuke pulled Sakura away just in time.

"Truth hurts four eyes, just don't take it out on the kid"

"Shut up you baka!"

"Oh that was a smart comeback"

The fight between them began, meaning it was finally safe to put Sakura down. The girl still stood by his side, clinging onto his pants although her undivided attention was given to Karin.

"I don't like her" she whispered, maybe to herself but Sasuke heard it. He arched his brows and nodded in agreement but said nothing in reply.

Sure it was kind of funny to see her overreact, but that wasn't enough to say Sakura was actually afraid of how crazy she got. From her point of view, Sakura could see how her butt pushed closer towards the direction of Sasuke. She of course frowned, not really liking the view and muttered in response something that got into range of the red head.

"She's fat"

Before anyone knew what was going on, Karin had already turned on her heels and was right in front of the pink haired girl, her glared intensified.

"I dare you to say that again you little brat!" Karin shrieked. Her fingers curled up into a fist, ready to punch the living day lights out of the pink haired child who in return smiled at her.

"You're fat"

In the background, Suigetsu was laughing so hard he ended up clutching onto his stomach. Sasuke simply smirked at this. The red haired woman blushed in humiliation, so before wanting for her dear Sasuke to continue with his laughter she took the pink haired girl ready to slap her small round face with all she's got.

"Karin" Sasuke warned icily "Put. Her. Down"

"B-But…you heard what she just called me!"

"Last time I tell you, put her down"

With a scoff the woman let go of Sakura and walked back to where Suigetsu kept giggling to himself. It was bad enough to have Sasuke laugh at her, so not really wanting for this to keep bugging her, she slapped Suigetsu on the head as hard as she could, literally slamming the poor man to the ground.

"Oops!"

"You bitch!"

Again their fight begun.

The silent man who had not said anything at all since Sasuke came back, was brave enough to approach him and the girl. Sasuke was expecting questioning like Karin but Juugo remained silent that was until he pulled on Sakura's white covers which happened to be Sasuke's hakama.

"I'll go to town tomorrow and buy her something to wear" Sasuke answered the unasked question. In response Juugo just nodded.

"I don't want to be annoying or anything, but why didn't you drop her in the village Sasuke-san. I'm sure her parents might be looking for her"

"She's got no parents there" Sasuke replied coolly. He stooped to scoop the girl in his arms, walking her with him to his own spot within the camping site.

* * *

It was around midnight when she woke up.

There was a certain discomfort in her belly, knowing what she need to do. She poked Sasuke's cheek, trying her best to wake him up.

She was currently sitting on his lap, obviously she had fallen asleep in his arms a while back. He didn't move at first from all the poking, but did open his eyes instantly when he heard her voice.

"Onii-san"

"What is it?" he muttered, now fully awake.

"I need to go potty"

Sasuke sighed. _'Nanny to the rescue'_

He stood up reluctantly from his seat under the tree and walked her behind a few bushes. Sasuke set her down and waited for her to get to business.

"Onii-san you have to turn around"

Really now? She couldn't be flatter than a pancake and taller than a gnome. What was there to look at anyways?

"Just go, Sakura"

The girl pouted stubbornly. "not until you turn around, onii-san!"

He sighed, but actually did as told. No long after there was a tiny squeal from the girl before she was done and pulled on his arm to let him know she was done.

"Tomorrow we're going to a village?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Come on, you got to get some sleep"

"Are you going to buy me some candy tomorrow?" she questioned him once she was safely back by his side. He arched a brow at her question, suddenly remembering his promise to her.

"Yeah, and something to wear"

"Can we buy some candy for your friends?"

"I don't think they like candy"

"Oh" she looked down again.

"Get some sleep"

"Okay, night onii-san"

From across the camp fire, Suigetsu and Karin witnessed the small talk the grown teen and the toddler just had. Not long before Sasuke closed his eyes and claimed sleep himself.

"You've been replaced" Suigetsu commented "but then again, you never cuddled with him like that"

"Odd he treats her so…weird" Karin muttered, preferring to ignore the man's insult.

"Weird?"

"Like if he was her father or something" she specified, giving him a look that told him he was an idiot if he didn't notice.

"Maybe he's the fatherly type, you never know, he could have a soft spot for children"

Karin snorted at this, almost breaking into laughter.

"Yeah, with that cold attitude of his? That makes sense, baka"

"Pfft" the man beside her groaned in annoyance. Much to his displeasure, he didn't like to be called an idiot, though some how coped with it.

"I was thinking"

"Hm?" he sat up again, resting his head on his hand.

"She looks awfully similar to his ex teammate"

"The Godaime's apprentice?"

Karin nodded. "maybe because of how she looks is why he is allowing her to stay with him"

Her tone was filled with jealousy. Her eyes never left the small bundle beside Sasuke.

"More like him keeping a pet that reminds him of her"

"Could be, but since when is Sasuke-kun the type to keep pets?"

"Well...you're still here" Suigetsu smirked at the way Karin glared at him.

"Go back to sleep, baka" the woman hissed effectively, giving him her best good night punch.

"Eh, you're just thinking too much about it" Suigetsu replied after a little while. "Let him be content about this for a little while, he'll become bored and forget her somewhere"

"A fling?"

"Exactly, his new toy. He'll get bored eventually"

After that, Karin seemed a bit more content herself.

* * *

**To be continued…**

* * *

**A/N: Onii-san:** older brother**, Onee-san:** older sister**, Imouto:** younger sister

Thanks for reading!

_-Shinrin-chan_


	3. San

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**SAN**

**(Three)**

**

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**

Sakura was very excited when they passed by the ice cream shop, also when they walked by the candy shop and the toy store. But in neither did Sasuke slow down or stop.

He knew well little kids liked all those things and he wasn't about to come to a halt and have her ogle over all the toys and treats, just to have her leave crying. She knew the deal since the moment they arrived the village gates.

'_No candy until you get a dress'_

To that obviously Sakura frowned in displeasure.

'_Also no sweets before lunch'_

There she knew she now hated onii-san.

She tried her best tugging on his arm when they passed some stand of porcelain dolls. The colors of the pretty tiny persons' dress obviously attracted her attention, perhaps also the fake rosy cheeks in their porcelain surface and those exaggeratedly slanted eyes. But as much as Sakura tried to get to the dolls, Sasuke wouldn't give in.

Filled with disappointment they got to the clothing shop just on the other side of town. It was empty, and for that Sasuke was grateful since he didn't want to be seen looking at girls' dresses as a mother should be doing instead.

Kimono's weren't of his taste, and looking down at the girl, those kind of attires would look too mature for her age. Sure they would of looked cute, but he had something else in mind as he looked over the row of Lolita yukatas. (something he thought a regular little girl wore)

As she stared up at him to check why he suddenly had stopped, she could clearly see at which dress he was looking at. It was a black and red yukata, that specific one was in the rack with Gothic Lolita yukatas. Sasuke quickly pulled it from the hangers and held it in front of her, trying his best to measure her with the dress by just viewing. To him it was perfect, she just had to put it on. He grabbed the box he guessed contained the shoes and the matching black knee high stockings that go with it. Sakura was suddenly pushed inside the dress room, with Sasuke tugging on her shirt ready to take it off.

"Onii-san! You can't buy that!" she told him. Half impressed he was actually going to put a piece of clothing that cost twice or more than the dresses her mother bought for her.

"And why not?"

"My mommy told me they are too expensive and that I had to make sufficient with the ones she bought for me"

For a small kid she was sure understanding, apparently if her parents said no it was no. But for now, somehow he just wanted to spoil her. He knew well he shouldn't be doing so, but deep down he felt like if he didn't now he wouldn't be able to amend to her later.

With a deep resigned sigh, he knelt in front of her and gently held her shoulders. "it's OK, your mother is not here, and I'm buying this with my own money so its fine"

"But mommy said not to ask for anything!"

How come she didn't say that when she is jumping for the candy? Kids were confusing at times and he knew that now.

Sasuke shook his head when she tried to speak again, sometimes she could talk too much just like when she was twelve.

"You didn't ask for it, I'm buying it for you. Now enough arguing and slide your arms in the dress" he practically ordered, with the little patience he had left.

In fact she looked quite cute in that dress, it was just a matter of accessorizing so she didn't look so plain. From the small purse that was tied to the hanger he pulled out the red silky ribbons and clipped them to each side of her head, having her complain when he pulled on her hair a few times. Lastly he tied the black chocker to her neck, the simple red butterfly ornament glittering beautifully just under her chin. She looked like a porcelain doll, just like the ones she wanted for him to buy her, but a thousand times better.

With a still whining Sakura, and the usual crying that she wanted her candy now, he managed to drag her out of the store after paying. She had quite refused to carry a matching umbrella by giving him the excuse that it wasn't raining so why carry one at all. She had enough clothes on her little body as it is, he didn't have to over do it.

Who knew Sasuke was aware of how to play dress up?

* * *

The Uchiha had told his teammates before to meet him in a restaurant near the exit of town, so once done they would leave. He wasn't so sure as to were to go after this, Sasuke wanted to leave after another trail that lead him to Itachi but with his new package, his plans would have to be delayed.

Taking her back to Konoha wouldn't be such a wise idea seeing as how the whole village was after him. And leaving her in a village that wasn't Konoha was also not smart.

Abandoning her was worse.

Telling her the way she should walk to reach home was suicidal.

So he had to wait for what ever jutsu that made her that way to reverse itself so he could carry on with his life. It couldn't take forever now could it? He sure as hell wished it didn't.

It wasn't long before his new teammates arrived to the restaurant. Suigetsu as always fighting with Karin, who indignantly took a seat just beside Sasuke and tried to scoot as close as possible. Sasuke of course could care less as to why they fought, so he did the same as Juugo did and ignored the pair with _his_ little doll who wouldn't stay put long enough to let him tie the ribbon on her hair. The pink haired girl shook her head wildly, telling him she had enough on her head as it is. She had to give up sooner or later, and with a look from Sasuke she gave up eventually. Sakura had learned that those mean looks he gave her meant something and she certainly didn't want for him to ground her from privileges that she quite enjoyed. Say, double in dessert or charade games she had learned from the Uchiha. To the whole situation, Suigetsu laughed of course.

"She looks like a Momiji doll" Suigetsu laughed more when Sasuke tied the silky red ribbon on her hair. Sakura was near tears now, she didn't like how he made fun of her.

"You look fine" Sasuke assured her, seeing how she was almost crying. It was always better when he complimented her. To her it sounded more sincere.

"That looks fine? She looks..."

"Karin!" the Uchiha warned before she could finish.

"I was just saying Sasuke-kun"

"Heh, nice Karin, you try picking on a small defenseless girl" the man to her other side chuckled.

Sasuke stood from his seat in between the two girls, though picking little Sakura in the process as he looked between Suigetsu and Juugo. After a couple of minutes of thinking he ended up sitting Sakura on Juugo's lap.

"I'll be right back, take care of her"

"OK" Juugo stared confusedly at Sasuke's back, glancing down at Sakura he found her nibbling on the piece of bread that was part of her lunch. "want something else?"

She shook her head as she reached for her cup of milk just to have it snatched away by Karin. Or as she preferred to call her, the mean witch.

"Look you little shrimp, you better stop sucking up to Sasuke-kun so he can buy you nice things and spoil you like the rotten little brat you are, you got it?"

The fiery red eyes of the woman only scared the Haruno girl. It only meant the evil witch was angry and like Sasuke told her before.

'_Stay away from her when she's being temperamental' _

"**Away from the fat witch" **that little voice inside her head repeated.

Sakura moved uncomfortably in Juugo's lap, trying her best to escape the death glare from the woman. To her disappointment, she only kept staring at Sakura with such hate and jealousy that eventually either of the men present had to interrupt her staring contest to which Sakura had lost.

"Four eyes, leave the kid alone" Suigetsu growled in annoyance at the childish tactics of his teammate. "you're just pissed your shopping didn't go as you expected"

Karin turned her glare to him, obviously defying and putting some excuse for her behavior at the store. "I so deserved a better price for that top!"

"How the hell should I know! Do I look like the store's clerk to you?"

"You were there you moron!"

And their argument continued until Sasuke finally arrived with a small bag in hands, filled with what appeared to be pink rice paper. If it weren't for the order to _Shut the hell up_, they would still be fighting all the way to the next village.

"Onii-san?" Sakura called when they walked through the already dark roads. He was carrying the girl like a baby in his arms with the overcoat protectively wrapped around her petite body. His team followed behind him in complete silence and he knew they would be listening in.

"Sasuke-san, I suggest we stop in a hotel to rest. I don't think it would be healthy for a little girl to refuge in the forest this time. It's rather cold" Juugo suggested when the town's lights came to view. He had a point and certainly he didn't want for Sakura to get a cold or anything.

"Fine"

Little kids did get sick easily didn't they? He wasn't about to risk it and get the pink bundle sick and have his journey get ten times harder than before. There wasn't a medical bone in their bodies, not even Karin whose abilities could only cure someone if they could manage their own chakra. And he was sure for a fact, Sakura at that age was hardly aware of what chakra even was.

It didn't take them long to find a suitable hotel. One which Sasuke thought would be appropriate, not the usual adult hotels Suigetsu loved to stay in.

"Saaaaasuke! No! How can you torture me like this!" obviously he was whining now to his choice. The Uchiha couldn't help but smirk at the reaction of his teammate, he reminded him of his previous sensei, Kakashi, whom in fact was also a pervert.

Though Suigetsu was just starting.

"What ever happened to you? Now I'll have to suffice with Karin all night!"

"WHAT?"

The water nin blanched. "Nothing"

"You fucking pervert!"

"Aw, come on there is nothing to look at anyways!" he shrugged it off like it was nothing, completely forgetting the girl was rather temperamental.

"Baka!"

"Four eyes!"

"Moron!"

"Cow!"

"Idiot!"

"Moo!"

"Shut the hell up both of you and just get a room!" for the first time in a long time, the Uchiha had actually yelled at them. The usual screaming and yelling between the two was getting rather monotonous and it pissed him off immensely. He didn't want for Sakura to listen to them and learn their vulgar language and later be saying those words herself. He collected the small girl from the ground with her bags of clothes. He paid for a few snacks for her and walked to their room both would share.

"Wait, Sasuke-kun! Can I sleep with you guys?"

"No" and the door was slammed shut behind him.

It wasn't long before their snacks arrived and Sakura began munching on her promised candy. Sasuke had ordered quite a lot of sweets for her to eat from, and also her all time favorite; strawberry ice cream. Which she tried to get Sasuke to get a bite of but not actually succeeding.

"Onii-san, when you were a kid did you have a favorite food?" Sakura inquired, she was tired of him not wanting to take a bite of her ice cream and actually stop brooding.

"Yes and still do"

"Really what was it?" she jumped excitedly on his lap.

"Tomatoes"

Sakura frowned at the mention of the fruit. She disliked that fruit in particular.

"That's not sweet"

"I said I didn't like sweets"

"But I asked what you liked when you were a kid, onii-san"

"You didn't specify what kind of food" he said as a matter of fact.

"But that doesn't count"

What a stubborn little kid. He would go insane if he didn't just say something.

"I liked dango"

"OK, lets go get you some dango, onii-san!"

"No"

"Onii-saaan!" she whined, that cute pout of hers making its appearance.

Sasuke sighed in defeat, closer leaning to her face until he took a bite of her strawberry ice cream. He played with the taste of the sweet treat in his mouth, his mind telling him that the faster he chewed the faster the torture would end. Sakura in the otherhand was delighted to see him try the frozen treat, even if the pleasure of seeing him eat it ended quite quick.

"Alright time for bed"

"Aww!" she pouted with her glossy jade eyes she stared up at him as if that could convince him to give her more time for any other treats. Though Sasuke was actually tired and didn't plan to give in this time to her cute pouts and pleas.

"I have a surprise for you though" he told her and was actually surprised to see her calm down almost immediately. He gave her the small bag he had brought with him from the other town, the pink rice paper still intact.

"A gift?"

"Mhm"

She didn't wait for his permission to empty the bag. And just at the bottom of the paper bag was the porcelain doll she had seen when they walked through the town that day. With her pretty red handmade kimono and tiny black obi that held a small toy katana under the thick wrapping of silk. The little amount of hair the doll had on top of her porcelain head, was tied back in a loose pony tail, revealing more of the doll's pacific face. Sakura screamed with joy, effectively tackling Sasuke to the bed with her little self straddling his waist.

"Thank you onii-san!" she squealed happily. Sakura wrapped her tiny arms around his neck, gently kissing his cheek before getting off him and burying herself under the covers in the bed. After the shock of receiving a kiss from little Sakura was over, he joined her under the covers, taking his time to make sure she was comfortable. She had fallen asleep before he knew it, with her new toy in her arms comfortably tucked under the sheets.

"Night, Imouto" he whispered.

In the end, trying to get himself some sleep.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**A/N:** I love Sasuke's fashion sense 3

Thank you for reading!

_-Shinrin-chan_


	4. Shi

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**SHI**

**(Four)**

**

* * *

**

Around one in the morning, just like any regular person he got the sudden urge to go to the bathroom. His feet already knew were to go and in three long steps, he was inside the diminutive malodorous bathroom. He was quite surprised it wasn't little Sakura who woke him up since she was the one that normally had the urges to go potty in the middle of the night.

'_As long as she doesn't pee the bed, everything is fine'_

He climbed back in bed and checked once on Sakura before closing his own eyes so he could go back to sleep.

She was fine.

Nude.

Barely showing a couple of mounds that would make any sane man's mouth to water.

Shoulder length hair messily sprawled over the white bleached hotel pillow. She was more than fine, but there was just a teeny tiny problem.

Onyx eyes shot open.

_'What the...!'_

In his bed.

There was not a child anymore, but rather a more developed woman. And not just any woman.

There under the covers.

Slept his ex-teammate Sakura. Lacking of course the clothes she'd gone to sleep with which consisted of basically a small red shirt and matching shorts. Which after further inspection, were found there also but completely ripped in half and other smaller pieces (like the sleeves) cuffed around her wrists and ankles.

_'What the hell is going on?'_

Where was mini Sakura? And when was she replaced by this woman? What the heck was going on?

He was itching to wake her up and ask her personally when had she changed back to normal. But one thing stopped him. Sasuke didn't know how she will act, more if she found herself nude in a bed with him.

'_Fix that first' _he thought with determination.

Slowly he pulled the covers away from her bare body. He didn't reach to uncover more of her chest before he shot back and fell off the bed.

'_What the hell am I thinking?'_ he screamed inside his head. Seeing her completely naked would be worse. _'Gimme a break!'_

She stirred. He stilled.

'_Yes, stay on the floor' _after further inspection the ground was safer.

'_But since when am I afraid of Sakura?' _he asked himself after courageously taking a seat on the very edge of the bed. The in hit him. _'Since I discovered angry women are lethal. Moreover, Sakura's monstrous punches'_

As he argued with his thoughts, he didn't hear the soft yawn and other small movements from the girl. That was until she blinked her eyes open to stare directly into his surprised onyx ones.

He knew what was coming next, and before she dared to scream, he covered her mouth with his hand.

It was then Sakura screamed bloody murder.

Same time trying her best to get away from him, but no go. She didn't know what was going on either. Sakura tried her best to calm down, but the angry hissing coming from Sasuke was not helping at all.

"Let go of me!" she effectively managed to kick him, freeing herself from his grasp.

"Where am I? What am I doing here? And with you! What-" she quickly became silent when she realized she had lost his attention. And to something that wasn't exactly on her face but down…

Her bottom lip trembled in anticipation before she slapped Sasuke hard across the face.

"Pervert!" she yelled at him, her hand gripping tightly onto the covers.

It was a nightmare.

Sakura had never expected to come across this man, not anymore at least since he didn't want to be chased after.

It was a nightmare since she didn't want to awaken old feelings she swore to get rid off, and that up to now it had been working. She had moved on, so far this whole situation was not working at all.

"Why am I here!" she asked, half yelled "how dare you kidnap me!"

Sasuke chocked, before sending her the most murderous glare. He had no motives to kidnap her, she was pretty much useless to him. For now he wished she was still a little kid.

"I did not kidnap you!"

"Naruto-kun! Where is he? What did you do to him?"

"Naruto?" now he was just confused.

'_Wait! Naruto_-kun_?' _ Hell must of frozen over or this was just a clear sign that the world was ending. Because Sakura never ever called the blond idiot _-kun_. Besides that suffix was only Sasuke's and no one else's. At least from his perspective.

"Yes, Naruto_-kun_, where is he?"

"You don't remember anything?"

"Remember what?"

"Try to remember something, did you have a mission or something in Mist?"

"I-" she was quiet. Sakura examined him suspiciously before answering the bit she remembered, "Yes, I was on a mission with Naruto_-kun_ over at Mist. On our way I got on a fight with him and told him to leave me alone…he was ahead of me when a group of rogue ninja's appeared in front of us right out of the mist…wait...those ninjas..."

* * *

"Sakura-chan, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you before" her blond teammate whined loudly. He was still then trying to apologize for his slow reaction in their mission. She had been left to do all the work for the family while he was God knows where.

"No Naruto, leave me alone!"

"But Sakura-chan"

He tried kissing and hugging her, but such thing didn't work either. Sakura nearly punched the living daylights out of him, but stopped herself or his and her relationship would be the shortest relationship the world would ever see.

"Keep your distance or I swear Naruto, I'll deprive you of kisses for a whole freakin' month!"

He gaped but decided to obey his girlfriend, he knew she meant it.

He would die without affection for sure.

They didn't get far before a not so small group of ninja's appeared in front of them, each carrying a different, yet ridiculously harmful weapon.

"This ought to be easy" one of them commented, noting the distance between the two Konoha nin. Funny, Sakura had thought the same about them. Naruto and her were really strong, strange those lowlifes didn't get that.

Didn't they also see their headbands? Leaf! Come on! Super village!

"Those guys would pay really good for the blond one" the one from the very front of the group announced rather loudly, effectively pissing Naruto off.

"What about the girl?"

The one they supposed was the leader shrugged his shoulders. "kill her, we don't need her"

That had done it, before anyone knew what was going on, Naruto was charging at them with just a forming Rasengan.

"You're not touching Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto!"

It had been bad for Sakura to underestimate them, those ninja were extremely fast. So fast Naruto had not realized when the man he had charged at was now behind him. Cerulean eyes widened with shock before the huge handle of the man's ax was slammed against his back.

"Saku…ra-chan…run…" he managed to say before being engulfed by darkness.

"No, Naruto!"

Sakura ran forward in attempt to help Naruto, she would not run away and leave him behind. With enough summoned chakra on her fist, the rosette aimed at the man that had attacked Naruto.

Everyone else moved so fast except for him, and all of that smelled like a trick to her. She stopped abruptly when two of the group shielded over their leader, other two behind her. And how she hated when they wanted to cage someone and think that would actually work. Sakura rose her fist, ready to punch the ground before she was roughly pushed back and forth by the men.

'_What the...?'_

"Don't think girl you are the only one that has super strength"

'_They all do!'_

"Yes child" he chuckled, reading the expressions on her face "and we're definitely faster than you"

After being pushed around for a while they finally let her go. Not going down without a fight she managed to get some off her back, permanently.

One of the men harshly pushed her to the ground with a little gift latched tightly to her left upper arm.

"Huh!" she tugged on the chakra seal, trying to rip it off her arm but found herself weak now that her chakra was drained.

"So you don't heal" the leader pointed to the seal.

"Heal?" she asked confusedly.

"Child, you should of had your eyes open"

Her reactions were slow until she felt the painful sting of the poisoned senbon.

"It's pretty lethal, so you probably have about five minutes left"

The laughter of his men mocked her, moreover his. The leader's was louder and sinister.

"Naruto…" they were taking him.

She could only see a blurred version of an unconscious Naruto before she herself lost consciousness.

* * *

"Then you should be dead" Sasuke commented.

If the poison was lethal as she said it was, then how is it that she's still alive? She must have some sort of immunity against the poison she was affected with, though somehow she had ended as a child.

"Why thank you for such wonderful hopes" Sakura muttered.

"Well excuse me, I'm not the type to be sympathetic" he glared at her.

"I know that, you are just socially-retarded!" she exclaimed, immediately getting off the bed. Oh the fight was beginning to sound like that of a married couple.

"What was that?"

"You heard me you egotistical bastard" Sakura walked to the window, the covers tightly wrapped around her as she sent back an evil glare that could match his. "you probably were hoping that I would drop dead any minute"

"I didn't even know you were poisoned!"

"Ah but-!" ready to say a comeback, but thinking of nothing she turned around to stare out at the night skies. "Hmph!"

He smirked at her tactics. "that's what I thought"

"Shut up!" Sakura barked furiously, once again turning to glare at him. She was huffing, her chest falling in rising to the quick intakes of air. Her pretty cherry lips forming a pout that looked absolutely adorable on her heart shaped face.

The Uchiha for once was speechless. His mouth almost to the point of watering. She had become a bit careless, and her unexposed back upper torso was making him restless.

He decided to blame his reactions to his hormones kicking up late.

"Sakura…"

"I said shut up Uchiha! For once I would not complain as much if you kept doing what you're sooooo used to. Being quiet." Sakura ordered as she stepped farther away from Sasuke who slowly made his was to the rosette with a completely different look she had never seen in his face before. "and keep your distance!"

"You're annoying" he grunted in response, now completely in front of her he slid the back of his palm softly against her cheek. His other hand slowly reaching to take a firm hold of her hip, squeezing gently before pulling her closer to him.

"Sasuke?" the Haruno interrogated, she was now flustered, her lips trembling, her mind trying to pick up any pieces she might have missed in the short time they had talked. "get away from me…"

And on the contrary, he got closer until his body fitted perfectly against her own. The hand on her cheek leisurely slid behind the back of her head, pushing her forward as he leaned closer to her own.  
"Sasu-!"

His kiss interrupted her rant also the upcoming slap that was meant for him again. He had flinched ready for that one, but seeing as how Sakura had closed her eyes to enjoy the kiss, he couldn't help but do the same and forget the now not so lethal slap or punch. Which ever.

"That's to shut _you_ up..." he muttered against her lips.

Not long after the kiss began to get heated and he had somehow managed to get her on the bed with him on top. His hands beginning to wander around her body, trying to remember each curve, and the texture of her smooth skin. Not going further than that, she began to tremble.

And then...

_-Poof!-_

There was a big cloud of smoke between him and her, the places where he had touched her before suddenly gone and he wondered for a minute if she just disappeared.

"Nii-san?" came the voice of the little girl.

The little Sakura.

She was hidden under the blankets with a confused expression marring her pretty round face. "what's wrong?"

Sasuke sighed, feeling extremely irritated. "that's what I would like to know"

* * *

**To be Continued…**

* * *

**A/N:** I ship both. NaruSaku and SasuSaku. :)

Sasu-cakes has his own way to shutting a girl up. Even if he gets a little carried away.

Thank you for reading!

_-Shinrin-chan_


	5. Go

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**GO**

**(Five)**

**

* * *

**

The little Haruno found herself to be more confident around them as the days passed.

A month had gone by since their incident. The kiss still vivid in his mind and he couldn't stop himself from replaying the moment whenever he set eyes on little Sakura.

She was not the Sakura he used to know. This girl was different, a mere toddler who barely knew how to go to the bathroom without anyone holding her hand. However, at times she could be smarter than Suigetsu and Karin put together.

And that was saying something.

"The trail that led to your brother disappeared about three days ago, Sasuke-kun. Why are we still going in that direction?" Karin asked the silent man behind her, who had a small bundle in his arms already half asleep. Sasuke looked from under his lashes at the fiery red headed woman, giving her a blank stare before giving his reasoning.

"If he were to have gone back you would of sensed him again. So where ever he went we will pick his chakra again as we go"

"Sasuke-kun, by the time we go any farther it will give him more time to…" Karin hesitated after seeing the look he sent her. Almost as quick she shut her mouth and turned her attention ahead not bothering to speak to him again for a good while until he wasn't as much irritated with her. Suigetsu, to Sasuke's left was having trouble in either deciding to speak to the Uchiha about what has been bugging him for a while or let it go like many other things he had always wanted to ask him.

"Onii-san" the little voice of the girl in his arms ringed softly, obtaining his undivided attention. Her eyes were half closed when he looked at her, visualizing further, she was still half asleep.

"What is it?"

"I'm tired"

He sighed. How many times did she have to say it for the past hour?

"I told you to go to sleep then"

"Oh.." she didn't wait for a firmer order before she fell asleep completely.

The white haired man cocked an eyebrow at the little conversation they just had, only coming to conclusions that didn't appeal to his corrupted mind. _"Nah, he's not a pedophile"_

"Sasuke"

"Hn?"

"Why do we still have the little pink puffball running around us? Have you ever thought this will delay our journey"

The man was wary, for he knew Sasuke would disagree and smack him out of nowhere. But the hit never came, nor the glare he usually received for saying something out of order.

"We've made no progress whatsoever lately, it isn't her fault"

"Eh, true. But what would happen if we came across the Akatsuki while we still have her around? Neither of us will be able to help her"

"That doesn't matter now"

Sure it doesn't. It will when he has the kid running around crying, because she will be killed any second by one of those psychopaths. Once then, it will matter.

Karin was again closer to the men trying to stay in conversation or pick up from where they left, but both men were already silent. She noted that maybe this was not a good time to be bugging him. Stealing a small glimpse of the pink haired girl, she looked forward staying in step.

Of course to every silence there was an interruption, in this case one that each and everyone of them would agree to. The pink bundle in Sasuke's arms stirred for a moment, blinking the surprise from her eyes when she tried to ignore the first noise, but only becoming aware after the second.

Sakura's stomach growled loudly "Ahh! There's a monster in my belly, get it out!"

Karin smirked at the pathetic way the girl explained herself most things. Sasuke in the other hand was rather amused by her.

"You're just hungry, we'll have something to eat when we reach town"

"Oh!" she sighed, feeling embarrassed "Okay, nii-san"

"Oh, this kid cracks me up!" Suigetsu roared in laughter when the little girl stared at him regretfully with a deep blush on her cheeks.

She disliked Suigetsu's sarcasm a lot.

* * *

They looked like the cotton candy she wished she had in her hands at the moment.

Fluffy.

Pink or Blue, it certainly didn't matter.

Set in a small cone that made the treat bigger than what it really was.

The sweet addiction to candy was killing her slowly, and the loud growling from her stomach only made her desperate to her cravings. It had been over a month since Sasuke had bought her any sweets or desserts, in fact she didn't know why he stopped giving her the sugary goodness she desired. Since that last time he bought her the yukata she always wore and the porcelain doll. Oh how could she forget the doll, it was her favorite present yet.

And even though she had a gift to play with, and a big onii-san to question about her treats. She could not get the thought of cotton candy out of her mind.

Her emerald eyes shut tightly before she began to wriggle impatiently in his arms.

"I want to walk!" she protested with a cute pout on her small lips. Sasuke of course didn't argue at all and set her down, seeing the little Sakura run ahead and around Karin a couple times asking her random questions. The Uchiha couldn't help but smirk at the girl's bravery to talk to the fiery woman. Soon the smirk disappeared from his face when Karin growled at the girl and Sakura ran back to Sasuke, gripping tightly onto his sleeve. "She's not OK" Sakura gave a stiff nod as she hugged her porcelain doll.

After a long while of silence the girl found herself looking up again at the fluffy clouds, and beginning to dislike the nice weather. Why didn't the big white cotton candy just spread itself across the blue skies like it sometimes did? Or why didn't it just disappear and take her crave away. She would have to do something to stop the images of how the clouds suddenly got into the shape of different candy, putting the poor little girl into torture. She had to do something fast! They had to reach town soon before she starts imagining raining chocolate chips!

"Are we there yet?" she asked impatiently at the same time pulling on his long white sleeve.

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"If you ask again I'll make you walk with Karin" he warned her.

The rosette glanced back at the red head, finding said girl glaring back at her. The little kid crunched up her nose, shaking her head in displeasure.

"That's what I thought" he smirked.

"But how long until town?" she asked again.

"Just a couple of miles"

After five minutes or so had passed and she began to jump up and down again, holding onto his sleeve.

"Are we there yet?"

He sighed in defeat. He spared her a glance that begged for her to keep quiet.

"I'm bored!" she glared back at him. Of course, after knowing the boy for as long as she has, say what? Thirty days. She had actually become brave enough to defy him and match his deadly glares, even at such a young age.

Sasuke at first was impressed, but after a while that bravery became tedious and now he just hated it when she looked at him with abhorrence in her sparkly emerald eyes.

"What do you want me to do?" Sasuke backfired, matching the little girl's glare.

"Dance"

Suigetsu to his left snorted. Karin was now paying attention to what the little girl had to offer and Juugo was simply intrigued.

"I'm not on performance"

"Sing!" she ordered. Sakura was pushing it to top it all. Although amazingly, the Uchiha had such an immense patience that day.

"No"

"Dance and sing!" the little Haruno begged. Her pout and eyes bigger than usual, he had to walk ahead of her to ignore such a cute face.

"Tell me a joke"

"Che, kid. The man doesn't know funny." Suigetsu joked, only receiving a glare from the Uchiha.

"Fine" the rosette yelled loud enough "then I want candy!"

"Apparently sugar rush works backwards for this girl" the white head muttered. To that he also received a glare from the girl who walked farther ahead from Sasuke and the rest of the group, not sparing him a glance as she stumped her way though the grassy fields.

"She hates you now"

"Hn."

_It will pass._

* * *

The damned room was getting stuffy, outside it was pouring but not cooling the temperature of the inside which was absolutely irritating. He was many times tempted to grab the bucket of ice cream he had bought for Sakura and chuck it down his own throat. Or even go outside and run naked to cool down his body, not caring if anyone saw him exposed.

He was even close to pulling his hair off. That's how much he hated warm days.

The sudden mumbling from the little girl beside him alerted him that he was actually not alone. Her shifting from one side to another caught more his attention.

She was also uncomfortable by the warmth with in the room. So without giving it much thought he pulled the covers she had all the way to her chin and down to her waist. Her flushed cheeks loosing some of the red color and exposing her already clammy skin. Sasuke sighed irritably, kicking his own share of the blankets.

He'd rather have cold days, or even snow but not this annoying weather that made him more paranoid.

"Agh!" little Sakura curled into a small ball before there was a big cloud of smoke in between them covering her whole body.

'_OK…That did not just happened' _Sasuke closed his eyes, knowing well that when he opened them there will be a grown nude Sakura in his bed.

With enough summoned courage he opened an eye, only to see Sakura, still sleeping, hugging her breasts with one arm. Her cherry lips were parting slightly as her even breath escaped from that addictive sweet mouth of hers.

He stared.

And stared.

And stared.

For the longest time he could before the woman shifted again.

The Uchiha was fast to this and covered her body quickly with the blanket before he could see anything. As much as he wanted to, he will not deal with a screaming Sakura after calling him a pervert.

'_How the hell does this keep happening?'_

And just like before. She slowly opened her eyes to stare back into onyx pools.

And just like before. He had to put his hand over her mouth to shut her screams.

"Don't scream"

She nodded and he let go.

"What am I doing here!"

Again with that? Couldn't she remember their last encounter.

"I thought you would take me back to Konoha!"

"I will not go back there"

"Then take me to Naruto-kun! I have to rescue him"

He chuckled "you could barely save yourself"

That did it. And with all her anger boiling up inside her she slapped the Uchiha across his face.

Again.

Screw fearing the man and his cold attitude, she had about had it with people like him.

Sasuke was still in shock, with his face slightly turned away from her. His mouth was open forming a small 'o' and his dark eyes were as wide as diner plates.

'_She did not…'_ slowly he reached to place his palm over his jaw, with that same speed he turned to glare at Sakura who was huffing angrily.

"That is for insulting me and for the kiss!"

He smirked, still flexing his jaw trying to get the feeling again. She had a mean hand, it felt much like a punch and not a simple slap.

"You liked it"

Sakura glared back at him, a low growl escaping her throat through her bared teeth. "I did not"

"You moaned, you didn't pull away or tried to resist me"

"I did not!"

Her fist swung back quickly and tried to land a punch on the Uchiha, though this time the man was more alert and stopped her before she even had time to land another one. Just as fast as she had caught him, Sasuke had her pinned down on the bed with his weight on top of hers. The girl of course didn't like to be defeated and began trashing around demanding for the man to let her go.

"Damn it! I have to find him! You may not care but he's my boyfriend and I have to look after his well being. He could have been taken by the…" she froze instantly "the Akatsuki! They have him, those bastards!"

Sasuke was still having a hard time trying to digest a few words she had just said about Naruto. Remembering something similar to what she had told him the night he left Konoha many years ago. It was sort of unnerving to think that she actually meant everything and that now was being loyal to Naruto.

"Hey! Are you even listening to me?" she growled before poking on his head. In return he glared back at her. "After yesterday did you investigate how to turn me back?"

"Yesterday?"

Sakura probably didn't realize that it has been a month since her change.

"It's been thirty days since you changed first and then back to a child"

"What?"

For a moment she was quiet until she grew annoyed and spoke again louder than before, having poor Sasuke cringe from her yelling "I should of changed back by now, what is it that turns me back to a grown up? Have you given me any medication?"

"No"

"Okay then" Sakura muttered as she took a thinking pose that consisted basically of her resting her chin on her hand. "My diet. What does it consist of?"

To that of course he had to crack a smile, well more like a smirk but still he was amused. "If it weren't for me you would of loved to eat sweets all month instead of real food. So, it has been mostly things we take on road"

"Don't blame me for liking sweets" she blushed of course but kept thinking. As a medical ninja she had to go through all the possibilities, but now this Uchiha had her thinking of random sweet treats "so I didn't eat sweets at all?"

"Just tonight and…" Well no duh! "the other night when you changed back"

Her smile gave it away immediately. "Hold on you eating sweets makes no sense as to why you changed back..."

"Well, I remember the weather inside the room being as stuffy as today. Perhaps too much glucose plus the poison and a very warm temperature doesn't go together and averts me back for a short while"

"That makes no sense" he stated. And honestly, to him it didn't make sense.

"It's all I've got that match, but I can't work on an antidote since I'm not an adult for long and antidotes basically take hours, if not days"

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Simple" she shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing "find the Akatsuki fast, get Naruto back and track down those damned men and get a sample or even better an antidote to this poison"

* * *

**_To be Continued…_**

* * *

**A/N: **Seems people still don't get how Sakura changed to a little kid. Eh, I explained that in Chapter 4.

Other, it is a SasuSaku story. Begins as NaruSaku (in a way)

Thank you for reading!

_-Shinrin-chan_


	6. Roku

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**ROKU**

**(Six)**

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* * *

**

Who ever gave a thought about their deaths?

Stopped to think and ask to no one in particular; I wonder how I will end?

Would it be tragic? Will it be painful? Would anyone care?

Those thoughts had never crossed the blond's mind, not even in the moments he had been close to death before. But now that he has been put on the spot and he's been surrounded by more than he could handle, he stopped to think.

He was really going to die.

He would not become Hokage.

He wouldn't have accomplished anything of great value that he would be remembered by.

"_Sakura-chan…" _

The ceremony had begun, chakra glowed around him and the statue in front of him made several humming noises as it was engulfed by chakra. All the chakra in his body was drained and it was impossible for him to tap into the foxes power.

This time he had no escape.

He would die.

* * *

She sat on the cemented sidewalk with her feet dangling to the river down below. In her hands she had a pickled plum onigiri that Karin had made for her. Bite after bite the rice ball kept getting smaller, a fact that Sakura feared.

Would Karin giver her another one? Hm, probably not.

Sasuke was not around and the rosette was left at the mercy of the temperamental redhead. Meaning that whatever Sakura asked for, it would pretty much be denied. The onigiri was gone and Sakura was left with a still half empty stomach. She glanced at Karin, only to find her reading from a scroll, most likely studying for whatever plan they had next. With a very disappointed sigh, the little girl stood from the sidewalk and walked farther away from Karin, albeit being in charge of the rosette, Karin wasn't the least aware of what Sakura was doing.

Town was the other way, she still had some money in her pocket from not so long ago when she asked Sasuke if he could _please_ buy her some candy. He had supplied her with a few coins, the change from the sweets she had forgotten to return.

Taking the money from her pocket she could only think about the sweets she could buy from it, or sweetened squid they had been selling from a while ago.

* * *

Entering town, Sakura had completely forgotten about her red headed nanny. After all she was busy and Sakura was hungry.

Like the naïve little girl she actually was, she smiled at everyone that looked her way, never minding if they did not have good intentions. She did not even think twice to smile at a group of small kids, which in return they glared at her as if she was some dirty stray animal.

Sakura was taken aback by the kid's reaction but none the less she greeted them with a bright smile.

"I'm Sakura!" the little girl chirped.

"We don't care outsider, go away!" one of the boys answered as the rest of the others formed a line to block a boy that was taller than the rest, probably a few years older too.

"I just wanted to say hi, you don't need to be mean!"

"We can be mean if we want to, big forehead! Outsiders these days are too ugly!" the same boy replied the rest nodding in agreement, except the taller boy and another one to his side (who appeared to be much like him). To his response, Sakura only covered her forehead and glared daggers at the blond kid. Emerald eyes clashing with dark jade ones with new found resentment.

It was just like back in Konoha with the other kids making fun of her. So even though she acted tough, his words had effect which was the same as with the other kids.

Clear tears had pooled in her eyes but she dared not to shed one since she _did_ give importance to what _onii-san_ thought of her.

'_Only weak people cry' _

"Aww, now she's gonna start crying" his chorus was laughter. How she disliked people teasing her. Suigetsu was enough now days.

The laughter she was tired of hearing every time someone her age looked at her. What would onii-san think of her if she just stood there and did nothing?

Probably the worst, that she couldn't even stand for herself. Sakura thought no more of it, grasped tighter onto her doll and kicked the boy right on his shin. The laughter immediately died down and there was only the yelling from the boy that instantly held onto the yukata of a very proud Sakura.

"Hey, let go!" Sakura yelled at the boy, but he only yanked on her dress letting her fall to the ground belly first.

The only girl in their group took the chance to take Sakura's expensive doll from her and quickly ran behind everyone else. None of the boys really cared what they did to her, all this was more like a game to them where none of them got hurt.

When they made sure she was securely held down, one of the boys began poking her head harshly, saying mean words after another, all of those words always having to do with her forehead.

"Enough" the taller kid spoke, finally coming out from behind the group. "she's just a girl…"

The boy froze when he looked into Sakura's green pools glazed by tears. It took him less time to help her up than what it took the three of them to knock her down.

"Are you OK?" he questioned in a surprisingly soft tone, that threw Sakura off as well as the rest of the kids. She was shocked by his question, managing only to nod in response. She would of even blushed but she didn't manage to do either at the moment, simply stare back into his dark eyes that awfully reminded her of her crush back in Konoha. This boy looked a lot like him too, except for his dark hair which was long down past his shoulders probably. If it weren't for the fact that he had his hair up in a pony tail, she could picture him better.

"Boss!" the group gasped in surprise when the older boy brushed a few pink strands of her hair away from her face. Action that caused the girl to blush and look away.

'_My God, he looks just like Sasuke-kun!'_

"She'll be my hime" the boy suddenly announced with a cocky smirk. "so you guys better start being nice to her"

"Wh-What!" if her face was red before, it was burning now, same reaction goes for the blond girl behind them. Whether the boys liked it or not, this new _outsider _was now their _boss_ too.

"Ha-Hai!" they all replied except for the girl in the back that was still in shock. Regardless being quiet all this time she still didn't like the rosette, and even less now that their _boss_ decided to make her his _princess_.

"Oi! Wait a second! Don't I have a say in this?"

"No" he smirked at her angry face.

"I don't even know you!"

"I'm Akito" the dark haired boy introduced then turned to the other kids "Ryo, Sora, Tsuyoshi; we call him Yoshi for short, Reno and that girl there is Natsumi. Now you know, hime"

The one called Akito began to pull on her arm again though not expecting for her to pull back. Her sudden move took him by surprise and he fell flat on his back. Sakura took it upon herself to start yelling at the boy, completely ignoring the other kid's infuriated cries. Suddenly in her rant she marched over to the other girl, Natsumi, and snatched her doll back.

Perhaps Sasuke's straight forward attitude was too much of a bad influence on her, but right now she wasn't going let this other kid push her around and tell her, without her consent, that it had been decided and she was now his _princess_.

"I'm leaving! I don't care what you call me, I'm not following either of you all" Sakura yelled, her eyes filled with rage. "and my name is Sakura, not _hime_!"

"Well then you're Sakura-hime"

"What!"

Once Akito snapped his fingers, the girl was instantly held back by his gang. It was obvious the boy was not going take no for an answer. She could bite and kick but she was not getting away. How she wished at the moment to scream for Sasuke's name, have him come rescue her from these bunch of bullies and laugh at their faces when this happened.

When Sakura was away from hearing range, Natsumi approached the leader with a heated face and near tears.

"What is it Natsumi?"

"You…you told me I would be your hime!"

By now those tears ran freely down her rosy cheeks, dark jade eyes glittering with new fresh ones.

"I've told you before, I'm too old for you"

"No!"

"You're too young to be thinking about a boyfriend, what are you? Seven?"

"I'm nine, so what? Aren't you young too? That girl looks younger than you as well!" the blonde girl retorted, never really expecting for the boy to glare back.

"She's just right, now come on it's getting late"

"Fine…" Natsumi bit out in response as she walked off when he said nothing. The new girl was taking her spot next to Akito.

* * *

There was a low growl.

A frustrated sigh.

A loud thump.

And the red head was wishing she was dead.

Karin felt her head throb slightly just from thinking about the rest she had to read and memorize. Top it all she was left to baby-sit.

"Why, Sasuke-kun owes me big time!" she sighed again and turned belly down "oi, pinky, let's go eat something… "

There was only a red flash from Karin's spot to which was Sakura's. It would be understatement to say she was scared. In fact she was terrified, Sasuke would kill her if the toddler was not back.

"Did she fall in the river!" Karin asked herself looking down at the running water.

The river ran all the way through town, probably miles and miles. It would be impossible to find her now, she was probably washed away long ago. This girl disappearing was not convenient though. Getting her head chopped off by an angry Uchiha was out of the question. The midget had to be alive and back to Karin's side before sunrise.

She drew a wisp of fresh crisp air and started running towards town. Someone had to have seen the girl, after all, it's not like there are more pink haired kids out there.

The towns market was almost empty. A few people here and there, getting their stands all tied up and ready to go. With the streets almost empty she figured it would have been easy to find Sakura but it was quite the opposite when another thought ran through her mind.

What if she got kidnapped?

The minds of old disgusting men were simple to figure out, but disturbing to think about. Karin had to admit the little girl was fairly beautiful for someone who has yet to wear a training bra. There must be many demented pedophiles…

"Agh! Stop thinking about such and find the little brat!"

The town's roads were almost in complete darkness except for a few lights that skipped a pattern of two houses and all the way down the road until she could not see further. Houses were securely locked, meaning Sakura could be in any of them.

Karin didn't want to resort down to humiliation and knock down every door until she learned the rosette's whereabouts. But if it meant finding the girl and showing Sasuke she was responsible enough she would do it.

She rolled up her sleeves up to her elbows then adjusted her glasses so they were further up to the bridge of her nose. Raised her foot up in the air ready to kick the first door down and…

"Stop pulling, I'm going!" Sakura complained when the blond boy yanked once more on her arm. With the other, she held on tight to her doll.

"You better not try to escape or the boss will be very upset with us" Sora growled, he still didn't like Sakura since she'd kick him. His foot was still sore about it.

"Sakura!" Karin gasped.

Inside she was relieved and it showed freely that at the moment she didn't care about Sakura's odd expression.

"Karin…" the girl's eyes widened when she realized it was really the red headed nanny "help me!"

"Oh crap! Reno, Yoshi let's go!"

They ran through the small allies were only people their sizes could fit. In record time, successfully losing sight of Karin who had a hard time to fit through.

She didn't stress though.

The devilish smirk on her face never disappeared, it didn't matter they ran away.

She already knew where they were heading to.

* * *

When the trio managed to drag Sakura all the way to their hideout they made sure she was safe and secure with their _boss_. After seeing the woman back in town, the girl had resisted. It was bad enough they had to go get food, but to take Sakura with them so Akito could finish a conversation with Natsumi, simply ticked them off, specially Sora.

She had been forced to sit and wait along with their leader so they could all go back and pick up any food they had dropped in their run from Karin.

Sakura wouldn't of minded to go with them as long as she didn't have to spend time with the boy that kept calling her princess. He sat awkwardly silent right across from her with only an amused smirk on his face.

"What?" Sakura asked when he only kept staring. It was getting uncomfortable and she had begun to dislike it, albeit his appearance to Sasuke, Akito was creepier.

"You were quite the cry baby as a child weren't you?"

"Huh?"

Akito frowned. "you don't have to pretend around me, I'm going through the same thing"

"What are you talking about?"

It took him less them a minute to realize she still didn't know she was actually an adult. Her mind might of still be stuck as a child's but he knew that she was turned into one.

Since the moment he saw her under the other kid's he had sensed her chakra leak in large amounts. Something no kid could do, not even him while he was in his child form. But she could, that only made him realize that Sakura was actually a very strong ninja, one that by mistake was also turned into a child. He also guessed who this ninja actually was.

"Have you not waken up before feeling heavier than what you truly are? Or…without clothes?"

"I don't sleep without my clothes!" she yelled back in embarrassment.

"No I mean, you are just like me...!"

The young boy didn't get to finish his sentence as the door to the small cottage was kicked down by a furious Karin. Sakura's face suddenly lightened up at the sight of her, never really expecting to feel this excited to see someone that hated her guts.

"I'll be taking back my little burden, thank you"

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

**

* * *

**

**A/N: **I loved playing _'Small gang'_ when I was a child.

Grown-ups thought it was cute.

We took it seriously! :D

Thank you for reading!

_-Shinrin-chan_**  
**


	7. Shichi

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**SHICHI**

**(Seven)**

**

* * *

**

How long has it been since he'd last seen anyone?

A couple days that felt more like weeks, if not months.

Maybe even more.

What he's sure of though, is that what ever was far beyond those steel doors would not make an appearance to him yet again after their failure a few days back. For once he was grateful to the Kyuubi's revolt, and for now his savior. It wasn't like he gained anything by staying inside him, and though, he wondered why he saved him.

He felt drained, dirty and albeit his situation he was hungry, not much able to ignore the loud rumbling sounds his stomach made every time he thought about his favorite food. It was obvious those people forgot they even had him prisoner, it wasn't often they fed him if they did they gave him such miserable portions of food that he wasn't even sure if it was for humans or dogs.

His bed was the cold ground with a pile of gravel as his temporary pillow.

The blond's life was suddenly stopped at its highest peak and though he should worry of himself he couldn't, and often found himself thinking of _her._

_"Sakura-chan..." the image of her radiant smiling face staring back at him flooded his mind. Naruto refused to conjure up their last discussion because it had been a fight after all. But simply went back to a day before, when they were both on a date in Mist. _

_She had bought the simplest dress that to him, made her appear even more stunning; white and flowing just above her knees with white matching sandals. Her short pink hair rid of the Hitai-ate and brushed into a cute feminine style._

_She felt silly in her new dress she'd bought from the man's family they were supposed to be helping. She had felt like a little kid and she was so nervous in case Naruto also saw her like one. What Sakura didn't expect was to leave the poor blond speechless once his eyes were set on her. _

_His precious flower._

_"Sakura-chan you look so beautiful!"_

_It had not been expected, but any compliment he gave her, she accepted with a big smile of her own._

_Their date, even though done while on a mission, had gone perfectly well. She blushed several times to his comments not that they were perverted or anything, but she smiled deliberately, one thing he had only seen her do when Sasuke was still around. It made him feel all giddy inside that maybe his attempt to erase the Uchiha from her mind was actually working and that Sakura soon would always have those beautiful smiles instead of the regular fake ones everyone was so accustomed to._

_With another toothy grin of his own, he leaned closer to her already flushed face. She didn't back away but simply inched her head away so his forehead would not collide against her own._

_"So...had fun in our short first official date?" Naruto purred as he stared down directly at her cherry red lips, slowly dragging his cerulean eyes to stare back at her emerald ones._

_"I...I did"_

_He smirked at her response. His eyes no longer set on the prize, but closed so he could enjoy the moment. The gap between them was closed and their lips locked into a sweet romantic kiss that left the rosette breathless and Naruto wanting more._

_"Even though we have kissed before, I have to say tonight's kisses will always be special to me" Naruto confessed before claiming her lips again._

Violently, or more with desperation, Naruto shook his head trying to erase the image of them kissing. He refused to think those kisses would be their last or that their first date would be their final.

* * *

At first Sasuke thought he was hallucinating when he came face to face with the most beautiful face in the planet, he couldn't deny it, it really was.

But when she sighed in her sleep and rolled to her side to resume her peaceful slumber.

He then realized it was all real.

Sakura appearing as a toddler, Sasuke helping her with nothing to gain, suddenly it all seemed so weird and very unrealistic. He should of just left her in the forest, still lost and crying like the little girl she actually was. But no, in that moment he had a soft heart and his head had been filled with nothing more than memories of the pink haired kunoichi.

Why? He didn't know himself.

Perhaps it all lead from one thing to another. Thinking of his brother and that when he managed to defeat him there was still one matter to solve. The revival of his clan.

From there his mind took off into possible candidates, and he had to admit Karin was the first on the list. She was skilled and somewhat beautiful, but he didn't know if he'd be able to put up with a woman who didn't give him his space. It was useless to think she would change who she was for marriage, even if it was marrying the Uchiha Sasuke.

After a while of thinking and varying his options from women he had met before. His thoughts would go back to Konoha and the ones he had left behind. His rose haired fan girl that by the looks of it showed out to be very talented, strong, beautiful and with a stronger temper he had never seen before nor encountered. Sasuke was still in disbelief that such an annoying girl had turned out to be an astonishing woman.

Maybe that was why he had suddenly felt such a strong connection with her. He felt she was like him in various ways regarding strength and skill but on out dealing with temper, emotions and social skills; both would be like Yin Yang. Complete opposites.

Maybe that wasn't even enough, and they could still be more than opposites.

Impossible to one another. A chance to be together with her could vary and it could narrow down to a miserable ten percent. The variation wasn't very alluring, after all she could hate him and she had all reasons to.

But none of those could be possible, she was now taken.

And by Naruto.

Sasuke could not say he was jealous of him. That would be utterly ridiculous, it never really crossed his mind. Perhaps he had a very pompous attitude that did not allow him to see far beyond his own persona.

Rivals? Never with him, he was unstoppable and at a certain point of his life all ties with Konoha and Naruto had been broken.

Envy could be the same. He did not envy Naruto, he was not jealous.

He felt something down deep in his gut. It turned and churned, but he could not control it.

Next to him, Sakura turned again.

Rosy lips pouting.

She stretched once again.

Her curvy figure revealed to him with the thin covers tangled on her legs. She threw her head back against the pillow, leaving her neck exposed. Smooth skin waiting to be marked.

And then it ended, the longest turn ever.

Many questions came to mind and he wondered if any of the answers could come down to his favor. He did not crave for her, he did not like her, he did not feel the least bit of love for her.

Their first kiss before just...happened.

How come thinking had come to be such a problem that required more brain cells than necessary. Sakura was here and his mind immediately focused on her even if he was thinking of something else before. Karin and other women were his options, so why did Sakura keep appearing in his mind.

Why even think of ways to be with her.

If it wasn't love, what was it?

Sasuke wasn't sure anymore hence he's never been in love.

The closest to liking someone was with his brother and it had been different and very disappointing. Thinking about someone more than usual wasn't something he was used to, it happened to him while his hunt for Itachi. But never did he think of him the same way he thinks about Sakura. It would have been strange, and far off from his approval.

He was...

With a need to be close to her and feel the warmth radiating from her body to make sure that she indeed was alive. That she was real.

With something he rather not call craving, but was consuming him from the inside due to the fact he was actually scared to be close to her and breath in her sweet aroma. A wave of reactions and emotions he could and will never put into use. He felt powerless against that feeling deep down inside of him. An unknown feeling he did not want to call love.

"_What is... that attracts me to her?"_

* * *

The woman was annoying him ever since the time she took his _hime_ from him and handed her to the devil. To Akito, Sasuke looked like a demon. One with no emotions and could possibly not speak more than simply grunting. They could look similar to one another but at least his eyes emitted a warmth that showed emotion.

The Uchiha appeared to have no soul.

No heart.

"And my sweet hime is with him" Akito growled. The immense anger he felt at being away from her and the desperation that the red head caused by not allowing him out of the room.

Suigetsu had found the whole thing amusing. It wasn't much that Sasuke permitted for Karin to bully Sakura, so it wasn't as fun. Though this kid annoying the red head to no end was far more entertaining.

Akito had ran out of options, no way he went there was no route around the woman.

"She's probably sleeping now kid, so wait till tomorrow" Karin spat venomously.

She wondered why the Uchiha didn't just dispose of the pest or allowed her to do so at least.

Oh, that's right, Sakura didn't let him.

Akito had been stubborn and had set his mind into staying by Sakura's side. In the other hand, the rosette was utterly annoyed when he forced her to stay by his side and didn't allow her to go near Sasuke. But even then she understood Karin's double meaning when she said _get rid of him_. Akito was unaware but she knew, judging by her tone of voice. After all, she used it on her several times when Sasuke spoiled her. Therefore, she could not allow Sasuke to harm Akito.

But how Karin wished Sakura had at least allowed her to spank him. She hated his attitude.

"I would gladly take you back to the village to your little gang"

"Don't worry witch, they can take care of themselves"

"Why you little..." she could only chase him around the small room, jumping on top of the beds and night table in attempts to capture him. In a corner, Suigetsu nearly choked on his water as he no longer contained the loud barks of laughter.

Many races around the room got her tired, but not enough to give up in wanting to kill him with her bare hands. Once Juugo appeared on the door holding their dinner, was when the boy stopped in front of him to poke the white paper bag.

"Oooh! What is it?"

"Gotcha, you little runt!"

Akito frowned.

She didn't give up now did she? He took a firm hold of her arm and bit down on the flesh. Hard. Ignoring the odd taste and the energy his body absorbed from her punctured flesh.

Before either of them knew it, he had scurried out of the room right from under Juugo.

He had lost enough time with those people and now that his brain was back to normal he rather spend the time trying to solve his problem, but for that he needed the pink haired girl. The burning feeling on his chest had returned, meaning that soon he would turn into his adult form. He would of killed himself if he would of transformed right in front of those people. Specially that woman that clearly had a weakness for good looking men, he noticed how she sometimes looked at the man who couldn't stop laughing nor drinking water. It disgusted him in a way.

He sneaked inside the room by crawling his way around the perimeter of the wall and under the tables. He could see her pink head cradled on the pillow, but there was something different with her appearance.

She was not a kid anymore, instead she was now back to her adult self. The boy felt the heat slowly creeping up to his face.

If he found her cute as a child, she was far more pretty as an adult. No scratch that, she was beautiful.

He gulped and began to shake her clothed shoulder.

"Hime..." he frowned, now he should not be calling her that. "Sakura-chan, wake up"

Being unsuccessful he decided to climb up on the bed and try again.

"Saku..."

Akito froze. The hand on his little one slowly tightening into a painful grip, and then he was facing the one and only, Sasuke.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the Uchiha hissed. He was angry long before he even got here so it didn't matter to Sasuke if he took his anger out on the little boy. Said boy was partially scared because he did not sense him in the room, not his presence, not his chakra.

Nothing.

It was like he had suddenly appeared out of thin air, but no one does that. This guy was good in cloaking that was for sure.

"I need to speak with Sakura"

"She's sleeping"

Akito opened his mouth to reply though nothing came out. His lips formed a grim line before there was an explosion and he was lost with in the cloud of smoke.

Worst of all. Sakura woke up just to find the now nude male on top of her. The remainders of his shredded clothes all over the bed.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

"_That _is why I need to speak with her"

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, to answer some things before they come up again.

**-Sakura now does wear something for bed, you pervs**._ (Mostly for Sasuke's sanity)_

**-Naruto is not dead yet! **

**-I don't hate Karin **_(in fact I find her interesting)_** so I will not do as much bashing on her just the casual things a kid would say to someone he/she is afraid of. **_(Well I think I've been doing that up to now...)_

**

* * *

**

_Now replying to some Reviews. I haven't done this on a long time, but I was told to do so...  
_

**CherryBlossom555: **I know right? Go Karin! Haha. And I'm so very sorry, I didn't mean to really. But I do read your reviews, I will now try to answer them...every so often.

**Kuraihime: **I can actually tell you this without spoiling it for you. No he is not Itachi.

**Amai Yume no Akemi:** Yes! Go Karin! & thank you very much for reading!

**MyUsedRomance:** I think sometimes the same. And sometimes I imagine Sasuke being chibi instead too lol. I can just imagine the troubles he would get into.

**UchihaSanNin: **Yes! Karin needs some alone time with Sakura to appreciate the kawaiiness

**o.O Kumiko O.o:** _/Karin's superhero theme song/_ You're the first one that brings that up actually. Lol I though only Sakura would remember the nicknames she gave Karin.

**And to those other wonderful people that took the time to Review! _/cheers/_**

_kattylin _

_Rajsa _

_Twisted Musalih _

_NinjaFoodLover _

_Shubaltz Crazist _

_The Girl In The Black Beret _

_Artemis of Luna _

_Theary15 _

_yuchi1994 _


	8. Hachi

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

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**HACHI**

**(Eight)**

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**

Karin winced as she rubbed with intense care her aching feet.

Those damned kids had been hell and the only reason why she didn't just kill them was because of Sakura. In that moment, she wished she had never even went out to look for the roseate. Her huge emerald eyes glittering with fresh tears were enough to make Karin into a pile of mush. Admitting to herself the little girl was adorable, much like those big-eyed dolls at a toy store displayed with many colorful dresses.

Sakura looked very much like one.

"Tch, damn it" she hissed when her other leg went numb. The feeling of ants crawling up her leg felt stronger, though for her, that feeling was better than limping around.

No one had noticed.

That is of course except Sakura, pretty much like always the little girl ended up ignored by Karin. Maybe she always craved for attention, for someone to look back and say something or at least ask a few things that could show they cared. None the less, she never expected Sakura to care.

Her ruby eyes dulled, the tightening feeling in her chest was painful, too strong to bare. Long forgotten memories of her childhood and even those of just a few years back hit her like a ton of bricks. Absolutely no one noticed what ever happened to her, not even now that she had set her mind to claim Sasuke as her own. No one that she ever wanted to be accepted by took the time to even glance back at her.

No one but that girl.

Even if she had been (and still was) a complete monster to the little roseate, Sakura never bothered to stop acknowledging her presence. Whilst with fear or teasing, she always approached Karin with a valiant attitude.

Sakura always tried to begin a conversation with Karin, she always tried to be nice or get close to her, even if it meant ignoring _Onii-san_.

Perhaps that was what pushed her to go and find the little girl, not only because Sasuke would kill her if the kid got lost. But because secretly she actually appreciated the attention she received from Sakura.

"Can't believe this" with a sigh of defeat, she set her aching foot down on a pillow "she got to me"

Suigetsu, who was sitting amazingly quiet on the other side of the room, looked up at her with a raised eyebrow in question. She simply dismissed it with a disgusted glare and the casual grunt she did when he was about to be ignored.

Still half lamenting herself, the red head gazed out the window at the dark, star exploded sky.

Same night, same sky which reminded her that in no one else had she trusted or liked for friendship ever again. But the same sky that just witnessed her admitting that she was more than willing to befriend Sakura.

* * *

_When Karin arrived out of nowhere to rescue her from the gang of kids, she felt extremely happy. But when she noticed how they all started to gang up on the red headed woman, Sakura felt somehow over protective and decided to step forward for her savior._

_Sakura struggled against Akito's tight grip on her arm, which closed in tighter when the girl actually began to beat him in strength._

_Karin in the other hand, had probably the hardest time with the kids. Sora was back along with the other two he'd left with and upon seeing Ryo and Natsumi fight the woman, he decided to put up a fight too. Not knowing were to exactly hit they just kicked her, her height being double their size and also her strength, that was all they could manage. Those strikes accumulated, and from that so did many bruises to which Sakura too noticed and did the unexpected._

_She bit down on Akitos hand until it bled, tasting involuntarily some of the metallic liquid. Akito immediately nursed his hand but doing so Sakura took the opportunity to run toward Sora and push him off Karin, who after that recovered rapidly and pushed the blond little girl off of her._

_The other kids around her glared at Sakura, probably feeling she was a traitor of some sort. Sakura glared back, and with a single step she was shielding Karin from them._

_"Leave her alone!" she yelled at them, shocking them completely._

_The roseate had put enough emotion in her order that even Karin cowered, at least for a second._

_Akito, their leader, merely looked at her even if in fact she bit him, he felt most resentful towards the red headed woman. Barging out of nowhere and interrupting such crucial time._

_"If you're taking her back, then I'm going too!" he spoke directly to Karin, who crunched up her nose in disgust._

_"I came here for her, I'm not going to baby-sit you as well" Karin picked Sakura and turned to walk away, stopping in mid step when she felt the boy pulling her back by her shirt._

_Akito glared at her, so fierce that if any of the kids behind him saw they would of yelped or the least tell her to put Sakura down to calm him._

_They knew Akito for being erratic and quite outspoken. He was spoiled, and whatever he said was done whenever he said it. _

_Something Karin didn't know nor did Sakura, who upon seeing him as merely a child didn't frighten her the slightest. She pried his hand from her shirt rather rudely, with her other arm tightening her grip on Sakura._

_"I said I'm coming!"_

_"You can't come" this time it was Sakura speaking, the way she said it only made Akito frown. The look in his eyes, one of misery, caused her to gulp air and shift uncomfortably in Karin's arm. She pitied him, even if she wasn't supposed to._

_"Please, hime"_

_"But…"_

_"It doesn't matter" he glared at her for the first time "I'm coming whether you want me or not"_

_Akito glanced back at his team, his eyes focusing on one of the boys who looked back knowingly. Ryo nodded in agreement to some mute conversation between the two._

_The young boy turned back to Sakura and Karin, only to hold on tight to her little hand._

_"Well…" he smiled slyly at both females "let's go"_

* * *

Sasuke knew how she was whenever she woke up in a strange situation.

So before Sakura could adjust her eyes completely, he tightly covered her mouth, not allowing her to yell again. The now adult Sakura looked like a deer caught in the headlights, her wide green irises flicking back and forth between the two almost identical males.

Akito's childish grin baffled her, much more his closeness.

"Hi Sakura-chan!" he squealed.

"What? Who?…Sasuke?"

Said man only sighed in irritation, but none the less did he reply to her awkward way to question.

"This is Akito, a man that sticks to you like glue whenever you're in your child form"

"And I also turn into a kid like you" Akito added.

The uncomfortable silence afterward was the most uncomfortable Sasuke had ever experienced. Sakura appeared surprised, but she kept gaping like a fish at both men. Meanwhile all the silence wouldn't be broken unless one of them spoke.

"You know…" Akito inched closer towards the timid _woman_. He tucked one of his arms behind her, supporting his weight, while the other rested right next to her leg.

Sasuke didn't approve of his sudden closeness, so he opted to do the same.

Intimidation at its best.

"I know some components to this drug. Not to brag or anything, but I could really help you"

"How can you help me if you also turn into a child?" She shifted uncomfortably when he smiled.

Those messy locks of his so silky looking, sitting on his naked back and shoulders. Along with his mesmerizing smile and alluring onyx eyes smoldering her own. This made her suddenly feel uneasy about their position.

'_This is how Sasuke would look like with long hair?'_

'_**Haruno Sakura approved' **_her inner added for her.

Akito stilled for a second to cover better his lower half, before leaning closer towards her. Advances he hadn't been able to do to a woman for a long time, but that this time around would fail.

Having Sasuke around was disheartening.

"I had my ways you know"

"Cut to the chase" Sasuke growled.

The young woman pulled the sleeve of her shirt to cover her bare shoulder and tried to get into a more comfortable position. Although in the middle of two men that could practically be twins, she found herself immobile.

"I'm the one that made the drug that turned her and me into a child"

"What?" Sakura gasped in surprise. She did not remember him when those rogue attacked. "then you should know of an antidote"

"He must be the attacker" Sasuke corrected pretty much ready to rip Akito's throat any second now, though the silly man simply shook his head.

"No no. I would never attack a pretty girl like her" Akito explained, referring to Sakura. "I'm a medic in Sunagakure, I work for the research team"

"Suna?"

"Yes, and in fact I remember you from a few years back when the Akatsuki kidnapped the Kazekage"

Sasuke sighed, noticing how this man lost sight of track easily.

"And the drug?" he interrupted Akito's rant about how impressed he was of her.

"Well, it was an experiment Lady Chiyo had started a long time ago. She made it slightly different, but I decided to make it more potent. After all what she wrote were only ideas"

"It is nothing more than a drug to hide yourself during a mission. You would turn into a child, any desired age, but you will still have your mind of an adult. This sort of drug would only benefit you to infiltrate places. Although, as you can tell, it's not yet finished and most components have to be revised. Your mind still behaves as that of a child, more often than mine does"

"But do you know of an antidote?" Sakura asked him hopefully.

"No" he replied "the whole notes to this idea was new to us, and we still required some herbs you could only get in Konoha. That is precisely when those rogue took them from us. They saw we were just a medical team, so they searched our packs, found the drug and my smart brother told them it was a lethal drug" Akito finished bitterly.

"A big guy decided to test it on us…and here I am"

"Damn it!" Sakura cursed from under her breath. So much for ending this quickly. If they wanted an antidote, they would need a sample.

"We will be able to work on an antidote once your mind works properly as a child"

Sasuke still had questions though regarding her usually monthly change. It would be good also to have her change more often, but he would like to be prepared too. It was a bother when he forgot to change her before she went to sleep, but even sometimes she didn't even like his choice of pajamas and would hide down under the beds until she fell asleep there.

Although when he asked if all the sweets she ate had anything to do with it, Sasuke and even Sakura were surprised with Akito's answer. For a moment though, because Sasuke suddenly frowned at Sakura's knowing smile.

"Fifty percent of the drug is composed of sugar. You eating candy accelerates the rate in which the poison functions. Why sugar? Well...most children like sweets so it's only obvious that to have a kid eat it, it should at least taste good. Plus it coats the horrible taste of the other ingredients." Akito tapped his chin with his pointer finger, most likely thinking of the odds. "you specially tend to have a strong chakra as a child, well…at least when you're angry. So I'm guessing that strong chakras could also make your mind stay alert"

"Meaning?"

"We could try having _someone_ expose you to a strong chakra, so that when you're a child you are able to think as an adult" he smiled, one of those creepy smiles she only remembered ever seeing in Sai. "that way it will be faster to come up with an antidote."

Sasuke felt that the certain _someone_, was him. He also felt that this little experiment could hold severe consequences if executed wrong.

* * *

**To be continued…**

* * *

**A/N**: This chapter didn't really need much to be finished, but I couldn't seem to have time to write for it.

I was going to update for this story sooner, but I found out that the dashes I used to separate certain sections were no longer there. So I had to go back _(for the past week)_ and edit all the chapters.

The unnerving thing though, is that if this happened to this story it also happened to my other stories _(since I used the same dash to separate) _

/sighs/

Meaning I will have to edit all my stories.

I know probably I'm going to be multitasking, but in my profile I'll soon have a picture of Akito and his group _(I need to immortalize my OC's, lol )_ Also another of the rogue ninjas _(the ones that attacked Sakura, Naruto and Akito)_ These guys will be coming back in the picture soon.

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_**Replies to some Reviews**_

**Artemis of Luna**** :** I apologize for that! Like I said, those stupid dashes disappeared on me. /sulks/ But thank you very much!

**dJk'.'DJBlossom**** :** lol yep, there it is right there /points to Saku's forehead/ Though Akito is just a flirt by nature.

**NinjaFoodLover**** : **Why, thank you! :) Hm, Karin is not as bad a character as I thought she would be. Perhaps there is no real reason why I would like her _(much like when I started liking Sakura since the beginning just because of her pink hair, lol)_ Karin maybe a noisy fangirl, but that's just how Sakura was. _(lol if I said who I really disliked out of all kunoichis I'd be dead in less than 10 seconds)_

**Rajsa**** :** Those dashes where gone! /cries/ I'm so sorry for the confusion! But thank you so much!

**KumikoX3chan**** :** Oh that hurts! I respect you don't like her, but I just had to make my point that I did like her a bit. I never really did say I hated her, nor did I say she was beautiful, lol. But I understand what you're saying, I tend to express the same towards another kunoichi in the series...

**UchihaSanNin** : lol, many keep saying the same I can just say that Sakura was VERY surprised (to say the least) I used to read the Manga Fox or Saiyan Island, although OneManga seems a tad more reliable lately. And you're okay, I just didn't include the bit about Karin getting Sakura back. I needed that for this chapter.

**Swordmistress2069**** : **I don't intend to make Itachi fall in love with Sakura. He hasn't even been a choice, but your comment intrigued me. Maybe not him, but someone else...

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_**Thank you for reading!**_

_-Shinrin-chan_**  
**


	9. Kyuu

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

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**KYUU**

**(Nine)**

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**

It was odd when it happened to Sakura.

But when _it_ happened to Akito, _it_ was just down right creepy.

It was offside, completely abnormal. But then again he remembered, what was normal about this situation?

Sakura appearing to him as a child, later to find out she was actually poisoned and that her changes don't happen often (that was unless he actually went a long with their candy theory)

Nothing made sense anymore, this whole situation was getting out of hand. Sasuke was willing to help _her_ in all he could, but seeing as how Sakura and Akito understood their position better, it made Sasuke feel useless.

Here they sat arguing how they could reverse the effects and here was Sasuke just listening in trying to see where he could fit in. Not only that, he stood guard just in case Akito tried to make another move at the roseate.

It seems to happen quite often.

Was this all Sasuke could really do? Scare the boy away from Sakura?

He didn't know, nor did he care. What he truly cared about was having her turn back to normal and keeping this _almost_ clone of his away from her.

"I need to find an antidote soon! I need to find Naruto!"

"Naruto?"

"Her _boyfriend_" Sasuke glared, making quite sure he got it. Although Akito didn't seem to mind the threat.

"Aww you have a boyfriend!"

This really annoyed Sasuke. One thing was to put up with him, but being ignored or not being taken serious was another. The man knew how to irk him, that much he was sure of by the way he always seemed to bypass everything he said.

"She's going to turn back"

Sakura looked at him as if not believing what he was talking about.

"How do you -!"

_*Poof*_

"Because you were trembling" he sighed, saying that as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Sakura now was back to her four year old self and even if they expected a lively Sakura or a panicked one, she only looked back with drowsy eyes.

That is where logic struck them; she was young, so it was obvious she would be tired.

Sasuke glanced sideways at the one remaining, though not really expecting him to be glaring back.

"Aren't you going to turn back?"

"It's not like I can control it" Akito replied with a smirk.

"Hn"

"You're quite obvious you know that? Regarding Sakura..."

He didn't expect a reply from Sasuke, but he did expect that expression on his face. One that at first glance would appear as if confused for the sudden question, but that could also be replaced by a mask of feelings. Sasuke may be a stoic person, but sometimes that hardhearted mask of his showed a lot more than he knew.

"What are you-?"

_*Poof*_

Before he knew it, he was staring back at a younger Akito. One which still didn't like Sasuke around the little girl.

If he only knew.

The feeling was mutual.

* * *

Next morning, Sasuke nor Sakura expected a wake up call coming from none other than their new group member.

Juugo, Suigetsu, not even Karin could stop him from barging in through the door with a bag of cookies in hand.

After last night of course he'd be angry at Sasuke for kicking him out of the room and sending him to sleep with those buffoons that the only thing they did was snore all night. Specially the silver haired one, who thanks to Karin (who shoved a sock down his mouth not so gently may I add) turned down the volume and allowed them a measly two hours of sleep.

They lacked rest and even Juugo appeared to be in a foul mood.

Akito jumped on the bed next to a still dozy Sakura and shoved the bag of cookies in her arms.

"Breakfast for you hime" he said, helping her open the bag even faster.

Besides them, Sasuke was simply ticked off that not even glaring at his team that stood outside the room could satisfy him.

"Karin!"

"Y-Yes?" the red head gulped, fearing what the order might be. Whenever Sasuke was this angry it wasn't good to fool around with him.

"Take Sakura with you, she needs a bath" he growled, that menacing stare of his making them all glance to other places, that is except the two kids who were happily munching away on some cookies.

Karin didn't wait to be told twice, so before even Akito had anything to say in the matter, the little girl was dragged to the hot springs.

Juugo and Suigetsu trailing behind them.

"And you"

"Hm?" Akito smiled, one of those sly smiles of his that always said _'what now?' _Never too friendly. That attitude that Sasuke always disliked on other people, but that surprisingly he himself had.

His fingertips began to glow a faint shade of blue, that summoned chakra which he used to brush against the kid's forehead.

The kid did say a strong chakra was needed right?

"What the hell!"

"Watch your mouth kid" Sasuke smirked, the glowing slowly fading away. "besides you said that chakra could make your mind stay normal as a child"

"I said on her! Being around you and those three morons is enough to keep me normal!"

"Normal?"

"Shut it, duck head"

_*Twitch*_

"That's right, now do that to Sakura-chan when she's in here"

"Other regular kids would have a little more creativity than yours"

Now Akito could only muster a twitchy smile whilst cocking his head to a side "You're forgetting, I'm not a child"

"Hn, even as an adult you behave like a child. Almost like you never grew up"

Time to check up on Sakura.

"You mother...!"

It was a quick decision really, he scurried out of the bedroom before the _little kid _could react.

* * *

"Ooh!" Sakura was squealing loudly, that new hobby of hers to play with Karin's hair was all too exciting. She kept playing with the longest tresses, curling her fingers playfully in her ruddy hair, fascinated by the way it curled for a second before going completely flat.

"Are you done yet?"

"No!"

Karin sighed. "We need to hurry and eat breakfast before we leave"

"But!"

"Tell you what, if you come along I'll let you play with my hair for a while. Okay?"

She should of never make a deal like that, Sakura being a child was not going to let her go until she was completely satisfied.

* * *

"Pfft"

"Go to hell, fish face" Karin shouted. That embarrassed look on her face was golden, but her hair was pure win.

Such that made even Sasuke chuckle.

But she couldn't care about that now. A deal was a deal, and Sakura was still tying her own ribbons on the red head.

Karin walked past them with Sakura on her shoulders, her face flushed a dark shade of red that pretty much tied along with the color of her own hair. She turned her head to glare at the four men (well three plus a kid), along with Sakura who held an annoyed expression.

Creepy enough, their emotions seem to match right about now.

"Can we hurry up? I don't want to travel at night" Sakura nodded her head enthusiastically, even if she kept glaring the same way Karin was.

"Yes and stop laughing at onee-chan! She looks pretty!"

"Define pretty, squirt"

Suigetsu's laughter was cut short by Sakura, who decided (upon realizing that he wasn't going to shut up) to throw the thick wooden brush she was using to untangle Karin's hair, directly at Suigetsu's face.

One thing was Sasuke sure of, and that was that his group was a terrible influence on little Sakura.

* * *

They rested before reaching the border to the Tea country, to which after they will travel all the way to Degarashi Port during the night.

Sasuke's goal, Nagi Island.

Itachi had been spotted some where in the water country, so as expected he chased after.

His journey, yes had been longer, but if what he was planning worked the travel would have been worth it. The shortest way for Itachi to return to Otogakure was by traveling through Mist, but by now he probably was already aware Sasuke roamed the place. Making him believe that was part of his plan, that way Itachi would take the long way and both would end up meeting in Nagi Island.

Sasuke well knew that Itachi did not fear him, but as he noticed from before, he always tended to avoid him.

Although this time, he would not do so.

With a tired sigh, Sasuke walked up to both kids, only taking Sakura and walking deep into the forest, not without warning Akito to prevent him from running after.

Sakura was quiet at all time, keeping her small hands close to her chest and eyes glued to the moist ground they were walking on. He looked around for a moment, approving the way the trees shielded over them and how the darkness set the perfect scenario.

He knelt in front of her, the tips of his fingers glowing a faint shade of blue before he gently brushed them against her forehead. The girl yelped in pain, jumping back and shielding her face from his touch.

"Why did you do that for?"

Judging by her tone, he figured she was her older self.

"I needed to see if what he said was true and to warn you about something"

"Warn me about what?" she asked wearily.

"Once we reach Degarashi Port, you will stay there with Karin and Akito"

"But…"

Sasuke glared at her before emphasizing everything he said next. The way he was looking down at her made her feel tinier than what she already was.

"I need you out of my way for when I fight Itachi, after that I'll take you to Naruto"

Saying that did make him feel somewhat strange and uneasy, but he had _promised_ at some unknown point that he would take her to Naruto.

"But I can't waste anymore time!"

"You knew from the beginning that my mission was to hunt for my brother, not that dumb-ass. So my plan you can take it or leave it!"

"Don't you care about what happens to him!" Sakura yelled back with that defiant tone of hers. She couldn't really understand him, nor did she feel like she would ever. His true feelings were always a mystery to her and their team. "he loves you like a brother Sasuke…it's sad that you don't feel the same way"

"I only have one brother, and that brother is the one I want to kill"

Silence followed and lingered for a while, his dark orbs doing the exact same to her small round face. Clearly remembering how different she looked now as an adult.

How _beautiful_ she was.

"Sasu…"

"And how do you feel about me?" he couldn't help but ask. Compare and contrast between her and Naruto.

"Sasuke… you were my first crush and an important asset to team seven..."

"But?"

"The kind of love I have for you is now different"

It was bizarre to be told this by a child, but those words still had an unknown effect on him, the feeling of a powerful blow to the gut and the cold chill that swept through his body was enough to snap him out of his thoughts. He should of known an answer like that was to be expected but never the less did it seem to disturb him.

"Then what are you going to do?"

"I'll have to wait for you to come back, that is if you come back alive" she replied to him with a grim smile, not really liking the idea of waiting. That basically meant it gave the Akatsuki more time to hurt her beloved.

"You don't seem to have enough faith in me"

"You haven't exactly given me a reason to, Sasuke"

* * *

Upon reaching the port, Sasuke once again summoned Sakura for another small talk. This time, Akito was present as well. Once they were in an area where they could talk in private, the Uchiha again brushed their foreheads with his chakra. Both kids jumped back squealing from the pain, Akito being the only one who glared back at Sasuke.

"That isn't necessary, try to remember that!"

"I never really know when you're _normal_ or not" the Uchiha replied with a small smirk forming on his lips.

"I've told you! Just being around you all keeps me _normal_"

"Fine, I just have something to tell you both anyways"

Sakura glanced back and forth between the two, already anticipating what he was going to say, she sat on the ground waiting for them to finish.

"I'll be leaving in a couple of hours to Nagi Island, you and Sakura will stay behind with Karin. I suggest you two start working on an antidote in the meantime"

"We need to be in our adult bodies to actually work on something. I can't control my chakra that well as a child"

"Last night you said something about _knowing_ when you'd change back. Use that time to work on it. But do hide away from Karin, she'll be keeping an eye on both of you"

Akito frowned. "Okay, so maybe I wasn't clear enough. We _both_ have to be in our adult forms. If it's just me I could of worked on an antidote a long time ago with my team. Sakura is an excellent medic and I _need_ her help"

"I can't foresee her changes"

"I can tell" the young boy replied, before focusing on Sakura. "We can't wait another month, we'll just have to force a change out of her"

"According to your deductions, it was all the candy and heat" Sakura muttered while Sasuke silently agreed. Both of them had made some crazy assumptions.

"I don't see why that only happens to you though. To my team as well as myself, it's enough to be surrounded by chakra to change back from time to time and keeping my mind normal"

"I've been around Sasuke all this time though" she retorted as if she were making an obvious point.

"His chakra is too strong, it even makes me dizzy and your chakra is very strong too but not enough to match his. What I'm thinking is that your chakra is being pushed back by his"

Silenced followed shortly after to give him time to explain himself, he noted how her own chakra seemed to flare weakly. Looking up at Sasuke, his chakra, even though cloaked, it still leaked by large amounts. His chakra was strong, yes, it was confirmed by the way it stung each time he brushed his fingers against their foreheads. And maybe…

"You're small and his chakra still hurts when it makes contact with our bodies" as proof, he pointed to her forehead where the small red prints of his fingertips were still fading. "I assure you, that when you're in your adult body, his chakra shouldn't hurt anymore"

"Let me get this straight" Sasuke interrupted him "you're saying I'm the reason why she doesn't change back more often?"

"It's a possibility. I mean, even I turned back to a child way faster, just by being near you!"

"But she's turned back to normal before"

"I did say the poison was sweet and she had a trigger each time she changed with you. Coincidence? Perhaps" Akito replied "I'm expecting that maybe being around that other girl, Sakura will be able to change back for a longer period. But then again, she might not"

"We'll just have to wait and see"

Both _men_ agreed with a nod.

"When will you be returning anyways?" Akito asked him after a moment of silence.

Sasuke closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath "I'm not sure, and now that you mention it..."

"What?"

"I've already said this to Sakura, but if it takes me longer than ten days to return, I trust you two will leave the Port"

"Yeah, because two kids on the road is totally normal" the boy replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I don't suppose you'd like to stay with Karin even after I die, nor will she want to stay with both of you"

Akito gasped, perhaps this time his worry was genuine. Who knows.

"Whoa! Whoa! Back up a little. What do you mean die?"

Sakura made a loud grunting noise as she shuffled back up to her feet. She sent Sasuke the meanest glare she could muster before turning on her heel to leave. "I don't want to listen to all this nonsense again"

After she was gone, Sasuke turned back to Akito, seeing as how he was still waiting for an answer.

"I'm going to fight my older brother, so I can't really say I'll come back alive but… if that were the case, I'd want for you to take Sakura with you and help her"

"Can't you be a little more positive?" the boy smiled, but as Sasuke noticed, he now lacked his usual spunk.

"In this case I can't. You're much more help to her than I am"

"Yes... you're very obvious" Akito replied between chuckles.

Although Sasuke still didn't get his meaning, he had said it before and still didn't understand him.

"You like her, well, you _love_ her. Otherwise you wouldn't care this much about her well-being"

Sasuke stared back at him with that same expression Akito recalled from before. Confused? Reluctant to admit?

"She's my ex-teammate"

"The way you act is not the way someone would act towards a comrade"

Was that really it?

If someone like him noticed it, then maybe his team had too.

Was he really the only stupid one? The one who can't sort out his own feelings?

Sure, for a while now the only thing he's felt was hate. And after seeing Sakura again, that feeling changed into something unknown, something that felt foreign.

That something that for months he's confused as gratitude, or even admiration for her.

He couldn't love. He no longer knew love.

Or so he thought…

But here is this boy who could easily figure one and each of his expressions, reactions and emotions by simply looking at him. Which made him realize that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't much of a cold person as he thought he was. Specially around her.

So that feeling…

That immense admiration towards her was what he actually thought and feared he could no longer feel.

He loved her.

Sasuke actually loved Sakura. And perhaps admitting he does was more frightening than being rejected.

"No...I don't love her"

"Now why did it take you so long to reply?" Akito asked before he burst into laughter.

* * *

A hidden Sakura stood frozen.

Her emerald eyes wide open in complete shock.

"Sasuke…you…"

* * *

**To be Continued...**

* * *

**A/N: ** I very much admit I need a beta-reader. But perhaps this is noobish of me, but I don't know how to find one. [insert nervous laugh]

I see I still confuse people with a few things...I thought I explained them, but perhaps I'll have to look back to that.

Hm, I actually did a drawing of Akito and his team _(the group of little kids he was with)_ I put some information about them with the picture, so if you see the picture it will be kind of a spoiler? _(link in my profile)_

It's not the best drawing yet, but later I will trying sketching a few more. :P

Anyways... thank you so much for reading!

_-Shinrin-chan_


	10. Juu

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**JUU**

**(Ten)**

* * *

"Hm, strange"

"What is it Lady Tsunade?" an intrigued Shizune asked once she noticed the confused expression of her mentor. She peeked over her shoulder to read what the Hokage was presently trying to comprehend.

"The Kazekage wants to know when one of his medical teams will return to the Hidden Sand," the Hokage announced unnecessarily, for Shizune had already read the message as well, "I don't recall having any medical teams coming to Konoha recently. From any village in fact"

"I don't either," both paused to think for a second before the younger woman replied, "they…probably got lost?"

"Unlikely, but just in case I will send a team to search for them," Tsunade concluded and with a commanding shout, she sent one of the Jounins outside to fetch for an available team.

"Speaking of lost teams. Weren't Sakura and Naruto supposed to arrive from Mist by now?"

"W-Well, you know they are a couple and–" Shizune began her explanation awkwardly.

"OK, I get it. But the least they could of done was to report first then have their little escape"

A small fit of giggles followed by the younger woman when Tsunade's face turned suddenly dark and gloomy. She didn't really like to be reminded that Sakura was dating Naruto.

It wasn't like she disliked Naruto or anything, in fact, she adored the little freak. But in a matter of love (as a son/daughter) she loved Sakura more. Dating often brought heartbreaks when it's time for break-up, and the pink haired Kunoichi was terribly sensitive.

Shizune told her once that there is no way Naruto would ever end his relationship with Sakura or vice versa, but the Godaime just couldn't be so sure. Towards any man in fact.

They all were just not good enough for her apprentice.

Though, she had to admit that she rather see Sakura with the blonde idiot than with the cold-hearted Uchiha.

.

* * *

.

Sakura had eaten candy. Nearly two pounds of mixed hard candy in fact.

She had spent the whole scorching day under the sun, wrapped up in a thick wool blanket and risk having a heat-stroke.

And the most suicidal of all was angering a certain red headed woman. All that just for a little bite on her arm. Suicidal because it was difficult, very difficult to calm Karin down without Sasuke's help.

A look from Sasuke. A word from Sasuke. A touch from Sasuke. Anything coming from the Uchiha would turn the woman into silly putty.

Plus, Sakura didn't really like all these tests Akito kept doing. The Uchiha would of saved her if he saw how horrible she was being treated.

"Sakura-hime! I got you some taffy!" the roseate heard the boy's beckoning voice. She shuddered at the memory of stuffing her face with so many sweets just three days ago. It hadn't gone well because she ended with a belly ache and puking out every bit of hard candy he'd made her eat.

Sakura looked around her frantically, the park didn't really offer good hiding spots but if it meant away from Akito and his crazy plans then she'd gladly take even the scariest looking hideouts or filthy trashcans.

"Sakura-hime! Where are you!"

Said girl was gone before he reached the clearing.

.

* * *

.

**First Test: **_Feed the stolen candy to Sakura-hime! Two days after Sasuke-baka's departure._

The moment the dark circles under Akito's eyes became apparent, was the moment Sakura realized her days ahead would not be a walk in the park.

She had been cornered behind the rundown hotel they stayed at in the company of Karin. _Degarashi's Paradise _was the name of the joint. Or the gateway to hell, which was the way Sakura felt towards the place each time she was in their room or walking down the dirty hallways. Those in which she swore one day she had seen a couple of mice running down the hall.

Anyway, being outside the place was nowhere near pleasant either. Specially if a certain boy had you trapped between nasty smelly trash bins. Sakura had to fight the vomit a couple of times whenever she inhaled the disgusting aroma.

"I'm sorry Sakura-hime, but I can't run this tests in front of that ugly red headed woman," Akito apologized, with one hand he clutched the small bag of goodies. He stared down at his freehand, palm up and tracing each crease silently with his eyes. Deep in thought that he completely missed Sakura's rant about how Karin wasn't ugly and that he should apologize now.

Sadly he couldn't even bring himself to care about apologies. Right now his dark glare was fixated upon the dim glow forming on his palm.  
"Hey! Akito-kun, don't ignore me!"

In a swift movement, he'd planted his palm against Sakura's wide forehead. The loud slap echoing through out the small alley, as well as the young girl's premature sniffles.

"Y-You were too close, Sa-Sakura-hime–" he stuttered, removing his hand slowly to reveal the red mark he'd left behind.

Sakura, wasn't too amused. The smack hurt, a lot, enough to bring her to the brink of tears.

Akito seemed to be more disappointed at the fact that his chakra didn't work. His concentration wasn't enough and so was the small amount of chakra accumulated in his palm.

"Oi, Squirt that hurt!"

Or maybe it wasn't much of a failure.

"Wow, it worked"

"What worked?" Sakura growled, glaring at him with her expression marred with pure confusion. "if you mean successfully hurting me and probably leaving a bruise on my forehead, then yeah, Congratulations"

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan," he apologized shortly. " I just need you in your normal state of mind for this experiment"

"What experiment?"

"Did you forget what we talked about? It has only been two days"

"Oh, I remember. That means Sasuke is gone–" she didn't know how she could have forgotten, moreover Sasuke's goodbye or see you later. It didn't matter, he'd been having suicidal thoughts and knowing how rash he could be, Sakura didn't doubt he would end up doing something drastic just to kill his older brother. It could have been a one in a life time opportunity to corner the elder Uchiha, although Sakura couldn't help but think of how selfish Sasuke was being.

If he were to die, Sakura would be alone with Akito. And although he is great help, Akito would need saving himself at some point. Sakura didn't doubt that maybe Sasuke also didn't give a damn about his team. He'd taken Suigetsu and Juugo, leaving Karin behind. The red headed woman was his only medical aid, she would have been extremely helpful in case Sasuke got injured. Albeit going completely defenseless, the Uchiha dare drag his other two partners with him to an easy death.

Itachi was an intelligent fighter with many skills to top. There is no doubt that Sasuke had gotten better himself as well. But just the thought of having two strong men go against each other was enough to make anyone feel uneasy.

He was being unbelievably selfish. He didn't probably think his team would care about him, but it's obvious his judgment failed a lot lately. Sakura didn't remember the Uchiha being that rash.

As a Genin, Sasuke always had second thoughts about decisions he would make. He always had a plan B following plan A, always picturing a victory and not a failure. And above else, he would always show up to be better than others.

The classical Uchiha way. The Sasuke she truly admired.

This new Sasuke. This Sasuke that thought about giving his life if necessary, at the cost of his other goals, was a Sasuke she very much disliked.

She hated the new one, she truly did. Giving up on himself was quite frightening.

"Uhm, Sakura-chan?" Akito muttered, shifting uncomfortably from his spot.

The small girl blinked a couple of times, enough to wake her from her trance and focus her attention back to the boy right in front of her.

"Perhaps I shouldn't butt in like this but–"

"What is that?" she pointed to the paper bag he held tightly against his chest.

In return, he smirked deviously, "Perhaps one of the many ways you can return to your original form, temporarily of course"

"Really!"

"Mhmm" the young boy immediately opened the brown paper bag, taking the long green gummy worm. He waved it in front of her not so amused face before throwing the treat inside of his mouth. Then he opened the bag wider and motioned for her to take a piece.

"Gummy worms?"

"The best I could do, and please as ridiculous as the antidote may sound, cope with me and the experiments because you will be the guinea pig"

"Oh joy"

The next thirty minutes for Sakura were spent by shoving down her throat as many gummy worms as she could. Couple of times she almost chocked, but of course, Akito was there to always give her a quick, gentle pat on the back.

The day wasn't necessarily warm nor cold, but he hoped she could change with this first test. Although the possibility was slim to none.

"I can't eat anymore," Sakura muttered between chews, looking almost as green as the next gummy worm. To this, the boy obviously looked disheartened.

"We still have half the bag to go and I have yet to see a reaction"

"Believe me, if you keep feeding me those things you will soon see a reaction all over the floor and maybe even on you," she replied sarcastically, not missing how he flinched at the not so pleasant warning.

"Should I go get other sorts of sweets?"

"No more sweets"

"But–we need for you to change to your adult form! You can't possi–"

"Look!" came her abrupt interruption, "I'm probably the most eager to change back to my original form, but making me sick will not work. I thank you but, Oh God–"

The rosette found herself puking out the contents in her stomach all over the floor. Akito jumped back in time to void the full blow, but still got some of her vomit on himself. The child part of him won and he found himself screaming in sheer disgust. Sakura, though, couldn't really care. She'd warn him but he didn't listen, so obviously she felt this was some sort of punishment.

"That was just gross, Sakura-hime"

"I can't eat any more of those!"

The yelling between them began, throwing in how this test was completely stupid and a waste of time. On the receiving end, Akito could only agree.

This experiment was a failure.

.

* * *

.

**Second Test:** _Hot Sakura! Four days since Sasuke-baka left!_

The second test was no where near better than the one before.

He'd let her rest a couple of days before he attempted any more experiments

Today Karin had left grocery shopping that morning, not before complaining how the temperature inside the hotel was far too hot and how the staff should fix their AC. Akito found this perfect though.

Days had been rainy, or not warm enough. Today was perfect to run their second test.

If the inside of the hotel room was stuffy, he could only imagine how it was outside, maybe almost unbearable to walk.

"Sakura-chan!" he called cheerfully, his left hand giving out a faint glow as he approached her unmoving form. She was lying completely immobile on the bed, her head hanging from the side where the fan that rested on a chair blew cool air against her already clammy face.

The girl grunted in response to his call, not bothering to sit up. He of course saw it coming and immediately crawled on top of her. To this, she rose her head and gave him a questioning look that most likely appeared to be a threatening one.

"Wha–"

Before she could finish, he had already imprinted his hand against her forehead.

Akito didn't have to see tears to know it hurt her, his palm print on her forehead was apparent. But she always had to move, always!

"Hime, I'm sorry"

"I swear to kami you're trying my patience," Sakura grabbed him by his shirt and pushed him to a side so she could get up from bed and away from the boy. She reached for her sandals and slipped them on, before crawling back in front of the small fan.

"We got to run more experiments today" he announced with a smile, then plopped himself beside her on the bed, his chin resting on his folded arms.

Once again, the little rosette grunted in response though didn't make any sings of moving.

Akito was seriously hating this unresponsive Sakura. She was too weak in this weather, but they didn't have too much time. So once again, he took the initiative and tackled her. She growled angrily and tried kicking him off her with no success.

"Seriously, get off me squirt!"

"Have you forgotten what we ne–"

"I don't forget!" she yelled again, pushing him off of her. Those big orbs of emerald stared angrily at him, almost reproachful "as much as I don't forget that thanks to you I puked for hours and had a long lasting stomach ache. I want to change back to normal Akito-san, but your methods are suicidal."

Sakura crawled cautiously back to her spot in front of the fan, giving Akito a small glare.

"When Sasuke was around, my changes didn't threaten my life"

The boy nearly laughed at this, "Don't be dramatic, Sakura-chan. You weren't going to die, plus I'm simply repeating the same process which Sasuke-baka had"  
"He never shoved candy down my throat and pushed me onto eating more!"

"How would you know?"

"Because I didn't feel sick after," she concluded, "to be a medic ninja, you should know already what is good and bad for your body"

"I'm doing you good"

Sakura laughed. A sarcastic _yeah_ left her lips in response, but stood none the less.

"What is today's experiment?"

She would lament asking that in a minute now when Akito happily dragged her out the door with a thick dark red wool blanket draped around his neck like a scarf.

He found a small clearing by the river, no trees close by to serve them as shade which was precisely what Akito wanted. An area where she could receive as much heat as possible.

He unwrapped the blanket from himself and proceeded to cover up the little girl until she was packed in tight. Done with that, Akito dragged her to a boulder near the river and leaned her against it on a sitting position, with what was left of the blanket he used it to cover her head as if she was using a hood.

Looking around for a second, coasts were clear and he dug out from his left pocket a small bag of sweet hard candy. Seeing the candy was enough to cause Sakura to panic.

"Please don't tell me that I'm eating all that again"

"I'm sorry," Akito nodded while popping a piece of candy inside her mouth.

As time went by, Sakura felt like she was about to faint from the heat. It had been probably around two or more hours since she'd been under the blazing sun, eating the cherry flavored candy. Her hood had fallen over many times, and those times had Akito pulled it back up. She seriously couldn't take it anymore, the sun was now up above and the sun rays were far more stronger than before. She didn't even have enough energy to chew the candy, ending up swallowing some of the pieces as they came. Akito too was getting bothered by the sun, but he just had to stay and make sure she eats and stays put.

More time went by, not sure how much. But enough to cause her to stop eating. Tears pooled in her emerald eyes, she pouted to hold them back, the kid part of her obviously beating the best of her and she began to cry.

Sakura felt childish at this moment, she didn't really understand as to why she was crying, but something deep inside of her told her that she needed to. So as told, she kept crying. Those silent tears leaking and soaking the blanket that covered her neck.

Akito was too busy looking up at the sky to notice, and that somehow got her even more upset. The girl swallowed hard, now trying to keep the tears at bay. Crying felt futile, it felt like it wouldn't help and in reality it didn't.

She chocked when she couldn't stop, this time Akito heard. He rushed to her side, worry overcoming him when he saw her tear soaked face.

"What's wrong Sakura-chan?"

The little girl sniffled, the fat tears she had been fighting back ran freely down her rosy cheeks.

"I wanna go home! I want my mum!" she cried out between sobs.

The boy frowned when he realized the pink haired girl was back to her child state.

This experiment had failed as well.

.

* * *

.

**Third and Final Test:** _Bite and run, Sakura-hime! Nine days since Sasuke-baka's abandonment! _

After the last experiment, Sakura had really no intention to go near Akito.

She didn't think like her adult self.

She didn't speak or had a normal conversation with him.

So, naturally he couldn't perform the last test to his hypothesis.

Sakura had changed back to her child self way of thinking, not giving Akito time to apologize or tell her about the next experiment. Once Karin got back that day, the little girl cried and told on him.

The classic tattletale. Akito got yelled at, ignored by the pink haired girl and since then still ignored. For the first time around, he couldn't help but feel angry towards the little girl.

He couldn't report back to his team that had stayed behind, his brother was taking good care of them, but he still needed to help them recover their original form as well as his own and Sakura's. Any insignificant detail that could help them, he couldn't report back.

So as days went by, he obviously felt helpless.

He peeked from under the covers and down below at Sakura and Karin. The red head was brushing the little girl's short hair with one of the wooden brushes Karin vigilantly cared for. With red rubber bands, she tied the girl's hair into pig tails.

He kept his stare on Sakura, hoping she would look up at him at least one.

A little glance wouldn't hurt.

And then, after so much waiting and sensing his watchful stare on her, she peeked back at him from under her long dark lashes. She regretted doing so after, when the boy smiled brightly in response and quickly look towards the window to resume her ignoring.

His smile fell and so did his hopes of performing the last experiment.

"I'll go buy us some lunch, you two wait here and don't go outside, Okay?" Karin told them "it's too hot out there and at least today is kind of cool inside"

"Can I come with you?"

The little pink haired girl pouted for a better visual, but Karin only shook her head and left quickly before Sakura could pull any other of her adorable faces.

On the bed, Akito could almost jump with joy. Today had to be the day.

"Sakura-chan!"

"NO!" that call. It felt like de ja vu to her now. She tried to crawl under bed unsuccessfully, because by the time she was ducking in, Akito already had her by the ankles and pulled her back.

"Hime please, this last test will not require much of you or have dire consequences!"

"I don't believe you!"

She struggled to get to her feet, but Akito was already on top of her. He tried to summon the most adorable puppy face, even better than hers if he could. But obviously, to the girl that basically uses it as last resort, it didn't work.

"Please Sakura-chan, if you do I uhm–" he thought, getting now the attention of the girl even for just a second. "I will let you be by yourself with Sasuke-san and not make a fuzz about it, Okay?"

The offer was too good. Alone with her nii-chan, she'd be able to play and Akito wouldn't cause troubles and make Sasuke angry.

That was a good enough offer for her.

"Okay, what do I do?"

Hook.

Line.

And sinker.

He tapped her forehead with enough chakra, this time around he didn't hurt her. Proud of himself he let her up and whispered his plan.

After that, they waited by the door until Karin returned.

Sakura sporting once again the wool blanket on herself, although with enough room to move around. She was munching on few pieces of cotton candy flavored taffy, eagerly swallowing before taking in another bigger piece.

She liked taffy very much, better than gummy worms, plus this time around she was inside and the access to the fan would be quick in case this plan failed. What made her uneasy was what she had to do to Karin. Her reaction was evident to the girl, so she wasn't really looking forward to it.

"Okay, I hear her coming, Sakura-chan!"

"Alright," Sakura swallowed, getting herself ready to launch.

A few seconds passed and Karin burst in through the door holding a couple of bags. They presumed it was their food, judging by the yummy smell of the teriyaki sauce.

But no time to think about the sauce and all the delicious food Karin probably bought. Sakura jumped to her feet, grabbing a firm hold of the now baffled red head.

"What are–!"

Giving the woman no time to finish, the little girl sunk her teeth into the red head's flesh. Not hard enough to draw blood, but enough for Karin to feel pain. She jumped back when she felt strange chakra course through her body, realizing it wasn't her own but Karin's.

"What the hell was that for?" Karin barked angrily at the girl. Sakura looked up in disappointment, it didn't work. She was still short and tasting the terrible body lotion the red head used.

"I…was hungry" perfectly faking the pout and getting away with it, Sakura accompanied Karin to the small table on the corner where they would eat their lunch.

Akito was left on the floor extremely disappointed.

This experiment too had failed, tomorrow Sasuke would return if he came out of the battle alive and Akito just didn't know how to face him.

How can he tell the Uchiha that he failed to discover what could turn Sakura into her original form for at least a few hours. If he failed with this simple task, then he really didn't look forward to work on the antidote.

.

* * *

.

The next day, Sakura, Karin and Akito were waiting by the gates of the small village for their group leader's return.

The days he would be gone had already expired, and they really hoped Sasuke hadn't expired as well.

Akito had been kind enough to use some chakra on Sakura to keep her in the right state of mind for when Sasuke arrived. And of course like Karin, the little girl was also anxious.

The kid part of her won the best of her, finding herself asking Karin way too many times whether if it would take Sasuke more to arrive or if he was here already.

For the hundred time, Karin wanted to reply no, although what she saw next completely stopped her from saying anything. Seeing how she didn't even bother to reply, Sakura and Akito decided to check for themselves as to why Karin didn't.

Sakura was the first to react, her panicked face never left the approaching wounded body of the Uchiha Sasuke, carried by Juugo. Suigetsu next to them looked extremely battered.

"Sasuke-kun," the rosette whispered in disbelief.

Was he dead? Suigetsu's and Juugo's face where expressionless, she couldn't really tell.

"Sasuke-kun!" Karin yelled once they were close enough, the white haired man flinched at her voice and told her _kindly_ to shut up. "Oh my god, is he dead?"

What Sakura heard next was enough to make her heart stop beating.

.

* * *

.

To be Continued…

.

* * *

.

**A/N:** Thank you all for reading and reviewing!

_-Shinrin-chan_


	11. Juuichi

**Disclaimer: **_Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**JUUICHI**

**(Eleven)**

* * *

Sakura really hoped she had heard wrong. Next to her, she could tell the red head wished for the same thing, judging by how all the color left her face and she appeared as white as snow. Fresh tears had begun to pool in her ruby orbs.

"Yes, he's dead" Suigetsu repeated, this time his voice was traced with sarcasm. He looked very annoyed.

Karin immediately brushed her tears away, rolling up her fist to land a firm punch on his face. She didn't feel at all satisfied when part of his face melted from the impact, she felt that wasn't enough of a punishment.

"Don't joke like that!"

"You are the one that can sense chakra and couldn't even sense his?"

They began to yell back and forth about Sasuke's weak condition. Forgetting that they were not alone.

At that specific moment, relief washed through the rosette's body at knowing that the Uchiha was still alive. Juugo appeared exhausted, and thus didn't take the time to listen to their argument. He kept walking, determined to get them back to the hotel, Sakura and Akito right behind him.

Sakura never removed her eyes from Sasuke's sleeping face. She traced with her eyes every cut he got from his battle, every stain of blood and every bruise. Feeling hypnotized, she followed them mutely. Akito next to her frowning at the Uchiha's battered state. Maybe tonight he would not have a word with the man about his failed attempts to discover an antidote.

.

* * *

.

By the end of the day Karin had already patched up the beaten Uchiha. Both his arms had been bandaged, down to his knuckles. Around his torso, the red head had smeared ointment on his burnt skin. His legs were also wrapped in bandages due to the several weapons that had pierced his skin. There were bandages covering his eyes, after some time they became tinted by blood that still oozed from his closed eyes. All in all he looked like a mummy in the little girl's opinion.

Next to his sleeping body, Karin was starting to falls asleep. She had removed her glasses and had them tucked on her shirt's collar, resting her chin against the palm of her hand. Sakura was kneeling on the other side of his bed, resting her head again her folded arms. She mentally counted each breath he took up until the number she knew, which was only a hundred, then started all over. The other boys had left to buy for something to eat, taking an unwilling Akito. Of course, after a while both girls realized that they probably found something more interesting, since it took them a long time to return.

The red head sat up in alert for the hundredth time when she heard Sasuke cough loudly. His face was crunched up in pain, twisting to the side that hurt him the most in attempt to make his own pain go away. To Karin's relieve, the young man's fever had gone down, but he still slept uncomfortably from the pain.

There was a soft knock coming from the other side of the door. It only meant the guys had come back from their grocery shopping after hours of absence.

The silver haired nuke nin opened the door a tad, enough to poke his head inside. He held a paper bag in his hand and motioned Karin with his head to come outside.

"Come on Sakura, time to eat," the muttered tiredly, taking the time to stretch her sore muscles from sitting so long on the same spot.

"I want to stay with nii-chan!"

Karin sighed, "you can come back after you're done eating something. He's not going anywhere, when you're done you can come back"

The little roseate wanted to disagree with her, but her stomach said otherwise. Grumbling loudly in protest, Sakura had no other option but to go eat first then come back to Sasuke.

They left the bedroom quietly and followed Suigetsu to their bedroom.

He didn't seem as beaten as Sasuke, after some time nursing himself, he was back to normal. Juugo as well, considering he was mostly tired from the journey. It had been Sasuke who battled after all.

"So did he kill Itachi?" Karin asked Suigetsu as she took a small bite of her onigiri. He answered by shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head, the food was still in his mouth so he couldn't really answer right away. He took a large gulp of water to wash down the food.

"We don't know," he answered quickly before taking another bit of his own pickled plum onigiri. Acting almost as if he'd been depraved of food for days.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Well–" Suigetsu glared at her for shouting, even if she was just in front of him. Their orange haired companion was now wide awake for the conversation, "when Itachi fell _unconscious_, Sasuke couldn't check. Before Juugo and I could get any closer to Sasuke's brother, some Akatsuki weirdo wearing an orange mask came and got him. Then they disappeared"

"We don't know if he's dead" Juugo finished for him.

"Well couldn't you sense his chakra?"

With an annoyed look, Suigetsu answered briskly to her question, "I'm not a sensor. Either his chakra was too weak like Sasuke's or he was dead"

"That will only have Sasuke-kun more paranoid"

"No kidding," he scoffed, "he chewed our ass before passing out"

They took their time eating. Continuing to discuss about their next move or if they were going to wait until Sasuke got better. Karin of course thought about tracking, but she didn't want to leave the Uchiha alone in case he needed nursing.

The young roseate chucked down the rest of her orange juice along with the rest of her salmon onigiri. She ignored their constant blabbering, mostly concerned with getting back to her nii-chan than anything else. But before she could even make it out the door, Karin's shrilling voice stopped her in mid-step.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Back with Sasuke-niichan"

Perhaps it was Sakura's innocent face that didn't make Karin debate on that matter.

"I guess we need to turn in for the night anyways and Sasuke-kun wants you to stay besides him," the girl muttered out, still feeling a bit jealous by that fact, "try not to wake him up though, try to give him as much space as possible."

"OK!" the little roseate left immediately, slamming the door behind her. Akito jumped slightly, but that didn't wake him from his slumber. This only left Karin a bit fearful if the little girl accidentally slammed the door to Sasuke's room as well.

.

* * *

.

She sat quietly watching how his breath came out evenly, plump lips trembling slightly whenever he inhaled sharply due to the pain.

It was around two in the morning and Sakura was still awake, never taking her eyes off of his sleeping form. It comforted her to know that he was safe, that the battle with his older brother didn't cost his life. With his return she felt better, but at the same time she felt sad.

Sasuke had counted on the two medics to come up with an antidote to their problem. Having no solution was definitely an obstacle. By no means could they leave in search for Naruto, and no one knew if the blonde was dead or alive. It made her feel once again weak and useless, relying on the protection the Uchiha supplied them with. She thought that with in the few days she was alone with Akito, she would come up with a solution, but it seems that every guess they had was wrong. Now they were empty handed, with no leads as to what could be of help to their dilemma.

She felt trapped in her own body. Feeling as if she was shrinking up to a point where she could no longer move. A feeling of being diminutive and that everything she did was minor and inadequate. This sentiment she hasn't felt since she was twelve and which she didn't expect to come back.

Sakura took the sleeping Uchiha's bandaged hand, rubbing his palm against her smooth round cheek. His chakra alone had worked to keep her thoughts in control, which was a good thing because that meant she didn't need Akito's help to think.

"Sasuke-kun"

She didn't realize she had fallen asleep until a warm hand was pressing gently against her head. It was such a tender caress, as if the person touching her expected for her to turn into dust at any given moment.

Soft mumbles left her puckered lips. Sakura refused to move from her comfy spot and just to please the stranger petting her.

"Sakura," said girl only tightened her hold on Sasuke's arm, flushed against her soft mounds. The action only made him far more uncomfortable, "wake up Sakura"

"Hmm?"

"Your body changed"

"Wha–?" emerald eyes fluttered open, only to stare at his not so stoic expression.

Sasuke had removed the bandages that once had covered his eyes. There was still blood smeared across his cheek from him trying to wipe away the blood droplets. He was trying to look away from her form with an angry scowl upon his face.

In record time, the roseate was away from the man and wrapped around the bed covers.

"S-Sorry"

Sasuke opted to ignore her apology, as well as the heavy blush forming on his and her face, "Did you two find an antidote?"

"No, we didn't"

"Did you two manage to figure something out?"

That irritated look in Sakura's face told him what he wanted to know. And obviously he was not happy with the answer.

In his battle with Itachi, he had found out that the hyperactive knucklehead was indeed taken by the Akatsuki. Apparently they had yet to remove the Jinchuuriki from him, due to some complications, but that didn't mean he was entirely safe.

Now Sakura was the one that actually wanted to save the idiot. In her state, she obviously can't do that. And Sasuke, well he doesn't want to take detours from his real mission.

He knew. He could feel it. His brother wasn't dead and that only meant that his mission in life was not complete. Helping Naruto would take away his miniscule chances he might have of fighting his brother. Even helping Sakura was holding him back.

Sasuke flung his shirt to her, motioning her to put it on. It took him a moment to order his words so they would come out right when he spoke them to her.

The moment he was about to speak, was the moment a shrilling scream broke throughout the whole building. A frozen, wide eyed Sakura stared at the door, the exact moment an adult Akito decided to barge right in holding a pillow to cover his privates. He pressed his ear against the door for a moment, listening how Karin's voice and foot falls got farther away.

"That was the loudest scream I've ever heard coming from Karin," Sasuke mused. The other man's face suddenly turned red from the embarrassment.

"That was actually me"

"What?"

Sakura's giggles only made it worst for him, "she was hugging me! I got scared! I didn't expect to turn back when I went to sleep tonight"

The annoyed Akito soon found comfort by sitting next to a still giggling Sakura. He tried to shut her up by glaring at her, but obviously he was as red as a tomato and she couldn't take him seriously.

Deciding to ignore her, Akito turned to the Uchiha who was once again wiping the tears of blood coming from his eyes. His eyes ached the moment his sharingan activated itself. A natural response when he is pushed into panic mode. That was obviously triggered the moment he heard Akito's loud screaming.

"What's with your eyes?"

By now the pink haired woman was over with her laughing and had immediately rushed to Sasuke's aid. She tried healing him or at least attempting to stop the hemorrhage.

"I can't use my sharingan for now–"

"Sharingan?"

"His kekkei genkai," Sakura explained, "you know, a bloodline limit–"

"Yeah, yeah. I know those," the still baffled Akito interrupted with a wave of his hand, "One of my team members was from the Yuki clan, but I just didn't know Sasuke had a family trait–I've just never seen a dojutsu user"

Akito's frown then turned into a sly smile. Leaning closer to Sasuke he whispered his thoughts, "I think I have a new lead for a cure"

.

* * *

.

**To Be Continued...**

.

* * *

.


	12. Juuni

**Disclaimer: **_Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**JUUNI**

**(Twelve)**

* * *

Remembering how unfaithful she had been by just letting Sasuke kiss her was enough to make her insides churn in a very unpleasant way. There was no way around it, she couldn't be forgiven. But at least she could punish herself, or at least she thought she could.

Sakura banged her head against the wooden wall, each collision cooperating with the growing red spot on her forehead. Even if the bumps were beginning to hurt, Sakura thought the punishment was not enough. Therefore, she increased the force, not really caring what the other two thought of her.

Enough punishment or not, she wanted the images of her kissing Sasuke out of her head.

"What is she doing?" Akito asked with a smile and a quirked eyebrow. The Uchiha couldn't help to reply sarcastically.

"She's testing the solidity of the wall against her head"

Akito smiled humorlessly in return, "Sakura-chan, if you're done with that can I talk to you for a moment?"

They only heard her mutter incoherent words, before shuffling to her feet and walking her way past Akito. All the while avoiding eye contact with Sasuke.

Akito may love to act like an idiot, but that didn't mean he was actually one. He noticed right away something had changed between Sasuke and the roseate these past few days, right after the Uchiha had returned from his battle and her change.

He had returned to his child form while Sakura hadn't, so obviously he had to go back to the screaming banshee and leave the two alone to talk over what he had in mind.

Thankfully, Karin hadn't seen him change, nor had the other two. But it was safe to say that he was now scarred for life and probably wouldn't sleep near the redheaded woman any time soon.

Regardless of what they might of talked. Both Sakura and Sasuke began to act a little strange right after, mostly when Sakura was in the right state of mind as a child, she refused to be near Sasuke. Often asking for Akito to use his chakra to keep her normal so she wouldn't run back to the Uchiha. After that, she preferred walking with Karin and asking of her what she would of regularly asked of Sasuke.

It was out of the question to ask her what she had spoken with the broody man that made her so - scared to be near him. But he could still go around it and ask what he had thought about his plan.

"Did you ask him? What did he say?"

The girl tucked a few loose strands of pink hair behind her ear as a frown formed her lips. "He said yes"

"When can we do that then?"

"I don't know!" she snapped, "I refuse to talk to him and if you really want to perform that test ask him to give you the sample, but don't expect me to speak to him"

"Sakura-!"

Sasuke had agreed to his experiment. But it still remained a mystery to Akito as to why the girl was so hell bent in ignoring her _onii-chan._

.

* * *

.

"_I'll help you save the dobe, just because where ever he is, Itachi will be there too"_

"_I won't complain," she muttered in a sour tone. "at least you'll help" _

"_I will not return to Konoha after I've killed my brother"_

_.  
_

Sakura rolled on her side, glaring intently in the darkness as the memory flooded her mind. She had decided to sleep with Karin tonight, so that meant both girls getting a room alone while Sasuke complied and shared with the other males. It had been like this every time they stopped in a town, taking in consideration that Sakura and Akito were both children, they couldn't necessarily camp on the woods. The reason why she refused to go near the Uchiha, remained imprinted on her mind ever since.

Her gaze turned colder at the memory.

.

"_Why not?"_

_The male grunted in response. The typical answer he gave to everything, even though that wasn't enough for her. _

"_Why not?" she asked again. Insisting to make him talk. _

_Sasuke looked sideways to ignore her stare, simply not wanting to give in. Deep down, though, he knew it was futile. Even if she was back to her more mature body, he couldn't really deny her as he wanted._

_He was literally like putty on her hands. _

"_I have nothing to go back to" _

_.  
_

Nothing?

Is that what she was? Is that what Naruto was? What Kakashi was? What everyone else that supported him was?

Nothing?

Warmth began to sting at her eyes, she instantly realized she was beginning to cry. Sakura refused to cry again, thus she dabbed at her wet cheeks with the soft white covers to rid the tears away. Her sight became blurry, it was then Sakura realized no matter how much she wiped her eyes, tears would always come and she could not stop them.

.

"_What about me?"_

_He sighed, "What about you?" _

_Sakura didn't know how to say it, she didn't know how to exactly voice it. _

"_I…we'll miss you" _

"_You have Naruto, you wouldn't miss me"_

_.  
_

It broke her heart into millions of pieces.

How could she have forgotten about Naruto?

She could get lost in a simple meaningless kiss with Sasuke. He could say he loved her. But to actually be with her, it was something Sakura now realized Sasuke didn't contemplate.

It was noble of him to remind her where her loyalty should still lie. Really, it said a lot about his persona.

It also said a lot about hers.

While she's here thinking that Sasuke was selfish and thoughtless for leaving Naruto to his own luck and not helping her save him in the beginning. The Uchiha is countering by telling her that she's already fortunate to have Naruto with her.

Realizing this made her feel like trash. Or worse than trash.

Here she is pretending she no longer cares about Sasuke. And there he is proving her the opposite.

No words left her. She couldn't find within herself to demonstrate how wrong he was. Because in reality, what Sasuke thought of her was entirely true.

She was unfaithful.

_But he tempted her._

Naruto didn't deserve this.

_But he also knew what was going on between us wasn't love. _

He's somewhere suffering and she's here taking advantage of his absence.

_It's enough to kill her. She wouldn't be able to face him again…_

"I'm sorry, Naruto"

.

* * *

.

The moment the needle made contact with the soft skin on his elbow, was the exact moment he noticed a devilish smirk spread widely across the male medic's face. Once the small tube was half filled with blood, he untied the tourniquet. Behind them, Sakura was busy mixing all kinds of herbs as requested by the Suna nin.

Akito was convinced that Sasuke's blood held a cure, along with a medication that had same components to those of the poison.

"Now I know why your presence triggered our change," the man babbled with an excited tone to his voice. "It happens just like with Tsuyoshi. Why didn't I realized this before!"

"It still doesn't mean it will work"

Akito merely pouted at the rosette's negativity. "It will work"

"Are you sure it will not be dangerous to inject yourselves with my blood?"

It hurt so much they doubted really, now that he had a lead and both were being so skeptic. The male turned to Sasuke again with a pointed look as if saying 'don't be stupid'.

"Who said we're going to inject it directly?"

Sasuke muttered, "That sounds kind of dangerous"

Sakura didn't want to say anything, but silently she was agreeing with the Uchiha. It did not take a genius to comprehend that with someone else's blood, you just have to be careful. Now there is Yamato as a proof, not saying that he ended up wrong in anyway; just that it wouldn't kill anyone to be careful.

Still, the male was persistent with his idea, the other two just hoped this didn't cause any irreversible damage.

"Who's first?" Akito held the clean syringe with the clear liquid in it, he looked back at Sakura with raised brows in question. She in the other hand was beginning to have her doubts.

It was a fact both were tired of turning back into children, turning into their original forms was a breath of fresh air. Staying like it would be the glory.

"I'll offer myself as the guinea pig then" he handed her the syringe, quickly dabbing some alcohol on his arm. He took notice on how uneasy Sakura actually was, so he had to offer her a sincere smile, "It's the only way we'll find out if it works"

It was then she nodded in understanding and quickly injected the clear liquid into his bicep. After he was all set, the roseate prepared another syringe and handed it to him.

Sasuke of course still a little uneasy about the whole process, feeling like he would prevent him from giving her the 'antidote'.

"We'll just find out if it works"

Akito smiled at her words. Quickly grabbing the antidote, he dabbed alcohol on her arm as well before injecting her with it.

Like Akito, she felt the liquid warm up her entire arm in an instant, slowly spreading over her entire body. Her breath left her when the heat reached her head. Sasuke was first to react when he saw the small woman wobble.

"I guess it's harder on her"  
"You think?" Sasuke retorted, still holding a dizzy girl in his arms. It took her a moment to realize what was going on and slowly pushed at the man's arms so she could steady herself against the side table.

"I'm fine," Sakura mumbled. "did you feel the same? Too warm…"

"It kind of burns now" Akito admitted, rubbing on his shoulders and close to his neck.

"Maybe we only have to wait and see if we don't turn back to kids, hm?"

The man nodded, agreeing to the idea, finally settling down on the dirty carpet at the foot of the ruffled bed. Sakura sat herself near him, grunting in pain whenever she felt a warm discomfort near her belly.

Too all this Sasuke could only hope they didn't both die on him.

He watched them closely throughout the night, tending to them when they started to act feverish.

He fell asleep when nothing seemed to change.

He fell asleep the second their bodies began to react to the 'antidote'.

.

* * *

.

"It worked…" Sakura mumbled, wide emerald eyes shining with evident happiness as she stared down at her own hands. No longer chubby little hands, but slender and fragile.

Akito too, he was still his older self. His long dark hair messy, covering his sleeping face. The wet towel Sasuke had put on his forehead laid to a side on the pillow along with her own.

Still in shock, she turned to face the passive sleeping face of Sasuke's, resting against his open palm. Then back to Akito.

"It worked" she spoke a little louder.

She was waiting for the spoiling moment where she would change back to ruin her happiness. But nothing happened, they were still the same.

"It worked!"

With her loud scream, both males finally woke with an alerted face and defensive stances. After realizing nothing was going on and how happy Sakura was, jumping up and down on her knees on top of the bed until both realized why she was so ecstatic.

"It worked! The antidote worked!"

A shocked Akito jumped in glee, hugging Sakura and Sasuke for a moment before resuming his own personal party.

It was only after the door slammed open. The stunned team, that was Sasuke's team gawping at the scene before them.

.

* * *

.

**To Be Continued...**

.

* * *

.

**A/N:** Now time to save my dear Narutoe-koooooon!

Yah, but on the next one.

Ja-ne!


	13. Juusan

**Disclaimer: **_Naruto_ does not belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**JUUSAN**

**(Thirteen)**

* * *

Sakura was on the bed, sitting closely to Sasuke who was on the floor and on his knees in an awkward stance where he was deciding whether to sit or stand.

Akito was frozen on the middle of the room; arms held out, wrists poking up in the process of a dance. Dark eyes widened at the presence of the new comers. Specially _her. _He didn't breath, he didn't say anything.

Juugo stood by the door, behind Karin and Suigetsu, appearing shocked as ever. Carroty eyes vivid with surprise.

Suigetsu didn't know if to laugh or yell at Sasuke. Nothing smart ever ran through his head, but after looking at Sakura and briefly eyeing the redhead next to him, he could only question why Kami-sama hated him so much.

Now dear Karin was the only one having trouble expressing what she actually felt. Shock, well that's evident. But anger, much like the rest expected that in the beginning for an angry red head to be shouting profanities. Or question a certain green eyed and pink haired girl who sat closely to her obsession. None came and for that everyone in the room turned to her in expectation. She had to blink a couple of times to focus back on the scene.

"Well," Suigetsu drawled, glancing at Karin in case she decided to speak out, "This is quite a shock"

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke inquired, finally on his feet. Beside him, both Sakura and Akito stood quietly, yet uncomfortably close to one another. She tried not flinch when ever Suigetsu's eyes scanned her from top to bottom with an scrutinizing look.

"Hold on a second," the slim man walked closer to Sakura, squinting his eyes into slits as he tried to remember. It should have been obvious though; she has the pink hair like the child. "this is the chibi"

Karin's stare turned to her abruptly, crimson eyes widened in horror. Brows suddenly narrowed, nudging at the bridge of her glasses to pull them up further, the red head inspected her closely as well.

The kid Sakura didn't have any traces of chakra like this woman did, nor could she detect any jutsu involved. To Karin this was impossible, or she simple refused to believe that was the little girl she earnestly took care of (as of lately)

"Where is Sakura and the other twerp?"

Akito's mouth twisted unpleasantly, cocking his head away from her sight.

"I am Sakura"

"No, Sakura is a kid. An annoyingly cute kid"

"I am Sakura, you just met me under other circumstances," she smiled lightly, not finding it within herself to be angry since she knew how Karin was attached to the child. It was pretty obvious.

"But,"

"We were given something that didn't work to the enemies advantage," the Suna nin piped in. The moment he spoke, Karin poked out her hand to point angrily at him. He decided to ignore her for the mean time. "that drug was still being tested and it turned us into children without reverse. Only being able to turn to our original bodies once in a while"

"So you two have always been…" the red head paled, turning away slowly she cupped her face in her hands, "OH NO!"

Oh the horror indeed.

A certain Suna boy wasn't happy with her realization either.

.

* * *

.

No one could just barge into the Akatsuki's lair like a bunch of crazy people.

No, no, no.

Even amateur ninjas realized that having a plan and a back-up plan was a smart way to go.

So why was it that with three intelligent Shinobi on the same team, neither could come up with a plan to infiltrate a secret hideout?

Well, there is a simple explanation to that question really. It starts off with one extremely confused Kunoichi whose proximity to a certain Uchiha baffled her, her emotions were in the way every time she tried to think of something else than the man next to her. And that man; that man whose pride is as big as the universe, couldn't really find a way to say _'sorry' _

One simple sorry!

_I apologize Sakura for my rude behavior._

_I'm sorry Sakura if I said the wrong things at the _wrong time_._

_I'm sorry._

A simple _I am sorry. _

He couldn't give that because he was prideful, rationalizing that whatever came out of his mouth was correct at all times.

And the last one? Well, when the other two didn't work, Akito didn't work either. Much like saying; If Mama and Papa are not happy, then the son resents their behavior and can't function properly.

Akito was smart. As smart as the other two, but stress gets to anyone, and conflict between them is not helpful.

Their plans didn't coincide. Not at all.

If they can even call that a plan, which was their main problem.

One wanted to barge in, secretly he says, but barging in unannounced and probably defenseless as well. Sakura had said it was _typical of Sasuke-kun to do so_. Think of ways to get there by yourself and not include others in the minimum.

The other thought of decoys, or attacking one and posing as them. Only one refused, and that was the one that wanted to go in carelessly.

The last couldn't give an opinion, because in the presence of two geniuses of Konoha, the ideas of a Suna ninja didn't matter.

Life sucked at the moment for Akito, that's for sure.

As for the remaining characters of team Taka. They waited for the plan to be formulated like good little henchmen. Not so happily of course, seeing as how the idea of entering the wolf's den was as crazy as insulting a pissed of Sasuke Uchiha, simply suicidal.

The group came to an abrupt stop a couple of miles before reaching what they believed be the Akatsuki's hideout. The hussy pink haired kunoichi kept her distance as best as possible, too angry to speak directly to the Uchiha.

"Are you guys even sure that's their current hideout?"

Suigetsu huffed, it hurt she even doubted. "need I remind you I turn into water? A puddle is my best hiding spot, and believe me here in water world there are many. I followed one of the Akatsuki to their hideout. We just need to figure a way to get inside"

Karin rolled her eyes but opted to say nothing. She knew well that a plan wasn't about to be made any time soon until those two stopped fighting. Or at least stop ignoring each other.

"I don't know but, I have to agree that Sakura-chan's plan is better" Akito voiced carefully, doing his best to ignore the icy glare Sasuke was shooting him. "if those rogue that attacked both Sakura-chan and I are still around with the Akatsuki, we will not be able to handle them all. Suigetsu-san said that when he followed the Akatsuki member he saw a few other men he hadn't seen before with Akatsuki. You may not believe it, but they are actually strong, if any, strong like Akatsuki even"

A tired sigh was heard from behind, knowing well it was Sakura, the young Uchiha steered the opposite way to avoid her.

"That is why I suggested using a few of us as decoys. If Akatsuki sensed us near their hideout they would send a group of them after us, as expected. With less of them in the hideout, we'd be able to get to Naruto faster without the need of getting into unnecessary battles"

"You can do whatever you want Uchiha, I don't care if you follow after your brother. But I'm going to save Naruto whether is the last thing I do!" the Konoha kunoichi added finally before he could speak against her plan.

He'd made it crystal clear to her before that he priority should be Naruto and not him. After thinking thoroughly, Sakura decided that he was right and that would be what she would do. Those confusing feelings she had for the Uchiha be damned, if he didn't care neither will she.

With a stiff nod as a signal to Akito, she turned to Sasuke's teammates.

"One of you can come with us, Karin is would be best if you stay with Sasuke"

"I'll go I guess" said Suigetsu.

Just as about they were turning to leave on their separate ways the Suna medic began coughing frantically. He grasped his chest harshly as if trying to rip something out from the insides of his chest cavity.

"Akito-san!" Sakura shouted, rushing to his aid. No long after the same began to occur with Sakura. The rosette immediately fell to her knees as the pain was greater than anything she'd encountered, feeling as if she'd swallowed molten magma and it had all bundled up in her chest. They both tried to gasp for cool air to ease the pain, but nothing could help the scrutinizing heat. Sasuke didn't know what to do, seeing them struggle made him feel helpless and he really didn't like that feeling.

He reached for Sakura and helped her to her feet, even though her coughing and wheezing continued.

"We can't carry out the plan today"

His current teammates were partially shocked at his answer, they thought he would suggest leaving them behind to go after his brother by himself. But nothing like that was voiced. Never the less, they nodded as Juugo and Suigetsu reached to help Akito to his feet, if needed they would carry him.

"N-No…we h-have to go" Sakura gasped in pain when a wave of pain rushed through her body, she gritted her teeth together in refusal to give in. In contradiction the Uchiha picked her up, cradling her in his arms and with a signal they began to make their way back.

"No, we h-have to save N-Naruto!" the girl insisted, but seeing the way she and Akito were shivering in pain made him rethink twice. Sure his blonde ex-teammate needed help, but so did Sakura. He couldn't rush them into danger in their condition.

"It's obvious you can't go like this"

Her tiny hand ghosted over her mouth when she felt the pooling heat in her chest rise to her throat. She couldn't contain the sudden cough and blood that spluttered on her palm, nor could Akito.

They stopped abruptly, but they couldn't do much to help as both ninjas began to wheeze harder.

"It's the antidote isn't it?"

"Y-Yes" Akito gasped. His breathing calmer now, even though he now looked rather paler than usual. He'd broken out in sweat, appearing almost like a corpse than a living human. "s-side effects or our b-bodies are rejecting the a-antidote"

"I'd say the latter"

Akito grinned weakly in return.

"We g-got to finish this m-mission"

Sasuke then turned to the girl in his arms with a glare. It seemed illogical she even suggested that. "You'll only be a burden if we take you both like this. You can barely stand on your own"

"N-Naruto might not have m-much time left either"

"And if you die while trying?" Sasuke seethed, his hold on her getting tighter, "I know for a fact that the dobe will feel bad if something happened to you. And he will think he was responsible"

Akito laughed, wheezing shortly as he tried his best to gather cool air for his lungs. He knew that Sasuke was right; they will be more of a burden if they try to infiltrate now. But the fact that Sakura refused to listen was also understandable.

"S-Sakura-chan" his voice breaking, "he's right. We'll try again later, I'm sure Naruto-san is a strong Shinobi and will hold himself up well"

"Yeah…"

It took her a moment to realize that Akito was right.

Without knowing Naruto, the Sunan nin had reminded her that the jinchuuriki was a rather stubborn character and it was highly unlikely that he would go down without a fight. She'll have to trust in his fighting spirit and that he's strong enough to wait for her.

.

* * *

.

**To Be Continued…**

.

* * *

.

**A/N:** I lost my files e_e; had to write what I could remember Hohohoho~

Ja-ne!


End file.
